RWBY: Raging Storm
by MADoubleT
Summary: When two unconscious teens are discovered in the depths of the Emerald Forest, they must learn how to live in the world of Remnant, without any memories of their past.
1. Chapter 1 - Simple Souls

**Chapter 1 - Simple Souls**

Beacon Academy. One of the most beautiful sights in all of Remnant. Anyone who saw it for the first, or last time would admit it's an incredible sight, and the view is even better than the mind could think.

The Emerald Forest. A calm, peaceful, green, beautiful land. However, one problem arose throughout all of the Emerald Forest. Grimm! Grimm, the creatures of darkness, plagued the majority of Remnant, and the Emerald Forest was no exception.

This made it perfect for a man, wearing green and holding a cane, to allow his soon-to-be students to enroll at his academy.

The man, known as non other than Professor Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon Academy. He slowly made his way towards several students, and spoke to them in confidence about how important it is to complete this trial. "Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path...or you will die." With that, all the students, even ones like Cardin Winchester, brave and bold, looked like they were ready to soil themselves.

Without much hesitation the first initiative was launched into the forest, leaving others in shock at the speed people were being launched at. It was eventually left to one young man with blonde hair, a sword and shield, and a terrified look on his face as he realized that he was the last person to be sent into the air with no way to land.

However, deep within the Emerald Forest was a small, dark cave, which held two young teenagers. Both unconscious, they were lead on the cold, solid floor, almost looking preserved by someone...or something.

\- Time Skip -

Soon enough, pairs were being made. A blonde haired, energetic, perky girl with lilac coloured eyes was paired with another girl, who had dark black hair, amber eyes, and a cute bow on top of her head.

Another pair was formed with a girl, who had a little red hood and cape, and glistening silver eyes. This girl seemed to be getting dragged away by another female, that had hair that was as white as snow, and light, sky blue eyes. Both, however, seemed to be engrossed in some sort of argument. With a battle of voice between the two, the noise attracted the Grimm. One after another, Grimm started to appear from every blind spot, the two halted the argument to concentrate on the upcoming fight.

In another part of the Emerald Forest, a terrified, young man who's hoodie had been impaled with some sort of spear. The terrified man went by the name Jaune. Jaune Arc to be exact. It was short, sweet and the ladies loved it. Below him was a tall girl, who had a similar style to that of an amazon. Her name was Pyrrha Nikos. She asked Jaune in a joking manner "Do you...have any spots left on your team?". "Very funny" Jaune replied, but quickly giving in to Pyrrha's jolly nature, giving her a friendly smile in return while she helped down the blonde haired boy for the tree he was stuck too.

As the new couple searched for the artifacts which would determine the team, they discovered a dark, gloomy cave of which it looked like it hadn't been explored in centuries. Jaune and Pyrrha both decided that the artifacts were likely in the cave, where only the brave explore.

As they continued searching the cave, they came across a bright yellow light, hovering in place. Immediately, Jaune believed that this had to be one of the artifacts. How could it not? It's bright, large, had a very odd and unmistakable shape, but above all, it was in a difficult place to find. However one thing was on Jaune's mind. 'Why is there only one?' he thought to himself as he gradually made his way towards the glowing object. As he reached towards it, he noticed that it started to move away, Jaune followed it until it came to a halt, at last a clear view… It wasn't an artifact, however, something much more threatening was attached to the aforementioned item. Jaune tiptoed carefully to get a better view, and as he got closer, he realised two things. The item which he thought was a relic was attached to a creature of Grimm, more specifically, a Death Stalker. The second thing was that two people who looked around the same age as them, was held onto the inside of the Death Stalkers claws.

Deep within the forest, a man, who was wearing a dark green, diagonally buttoned tailcoat and a white pair of trousers and had a magenta streak of hair which is easily noticeable in his black hair, was wandering around, hoping to find his orange-haired friend. Suddenly, he felt the ground around him moving as he was being circled by a black King Taijitu's. The man in green jumped and fired his machine pistols in a spiral and kicking the head of the King Taijitsu, knocking it to the ground. As the creature of Grimm got back up, the green-coated man struck again with his blades underneath the barrels of his machine pistols. The creature wasn't finished, and attempted another attack, however, the man easily avoided this attack, and sent the serpent into the ground, landing on top of it, with the blades landing directly in its head.

He then realised that he was being watched. He turned around only to notice another King Taijitsu, however this one was in white. He noticed how both creatures of Grimm were preparing to attack...but he didn't move. Instead, he waited for the perfect moment and jumped on the black King Taijitsu. As he skated around, he continued shooting rounds into the white creature, hoping to end the battle soon. After jumping over the white King Taijitsu, he let his guard down, getting knocked back, he had dropped his weapons, and was expecting the worst.

The black King Taijitsu struck at the boy in green, only for the boy to fight with all of his strength, and unleash an aura-like shield, protecting his from the deadly serpents bite. Once he had the upper hand, the boy released his aura, and grabbed the teeth of his attacker. Breaking them off, he struck the black King Taijitsu in the eye, taking a fighting stance, before unleashing a powerful blast from his hand, sending the teeth through the serpent's head, blowing the head of the black creature of Grimm.

Soon enough, the boy had quickly retrieved his weapons, and disposed of his attackers, only to hear the trees next to him shaking and heard a very odd sound. As he looked up he noticed his orange-haired friend. "Hey Ren!" she said in a very excited tone, more than likely from viewing the fight. Ren responded with "I still don't think that's what sloths sound like." Shortly after, the orange-haired girl, who already known to Ren was called Nora Valkyrie, lowered herself down and slightly touched Ren's nose whilst also saying "Boop!".

Jaune started to walk backwards slowly. "Pyrrha, get out. Now." he whispered to the red headed huntress in training. Pyrrha seemed confused at first, but didn't fail in his orders. As they both started making their way out, Jaune fell over a torch which he had dropped earlier in the cave. Once remembering what he could have tripped over, he didn't have enough time to get up before the Death Stalker grabbed Jaune's hood with its stinger.

Pyrrha, who had bolted out of the cave, was now being chased by the Death Stalker, which had smashed out of the cave, still with Jaune on its stinger, and the two mysterious teenagers in its claws. "Pyrrha, this is not the relic! It's not!" sobbed Jaune. "Do something!". As Pyrrha began to speak, the Deathclaw became clearly agitated at how its stinger was being held on, which led to it moving its tail frantically, causing Jaune to finally be released, but still sent all the way across the Emerald Forest. At the sight of her ally being released, Pyrrha bolted in the direction of Jaune, hoping he hadn't got hurt from the fall, but she knew that not far behind her, two innocent people were in danger from a deadly Death Stalker, and she needed a team to help her, and the two hostages, had not yet awoken nor didn't seem to even notice what was going on.

During the havoc that the Death Stalker created, it made it clear that it will not stop its relentless fury but strangely, it had yet not killed the two teenagers with its claws, it as if they were special. Its rage made a sudden rush towards Emerald forest, plaguing the grasslands and toppling over trees one by one to only chase the red headed amazon that it is fleeing away from it.

Pyrrha, who has been desperately running away from the Death Stalker has followed Jaune throughout the entire time he has been on airborne. But within sight, it appeared that Jaune has clashed towards another hunter on airborne. Strangely enough, the person that Jaune has collided into was the little girl in a red hood and cape. Upon the rush that Pyrrha has made, she stumbled upon 7 huntresses and hunters including Jaune in which they appeared to be in some sought of temple, all awed of the sight of the Death Stalker apart from little red riding hood, who eagerly jumped into action had seen the two teenagers within the Death Stalkers clutches. Knowing that jumping in without a plan could end up hurting the the two teenagers, she retreated and regrouped to only gain another Grimm soaring through the sky…

The blonde girl seeing everyone together decided to joke and say "Oh great, the gang's all here. Now we can all die together!". But in immediate response, a girl with black and red hair responded with "Not if I can help it!".

A Nevermore... siding with the Death Stalker would prove a problem for the young warriors especially with the two unconscious hostages that need saving. But the reckless act of little red who charged into the Death Stalker has lead the Nevermore to rain feathers that are like sharp arrows which was aimed at little red. With little red desperately running from the Death Stalker, her red cape got caught by the arrows. Unable to escape, she pleaded for help. The blonde girl who was once energetic, changed instantly, screaming in a worrisome voice "RUBY!", knowing that she will be in danger, she ran to save her sister from disaster.

With the Death Stalker charging at little red, the worrisome girl couldn't reach her sister in time. That was until the cold hearted ice queen decided to put up a frozen wall which stopped the stinger of the Death Stalker, but the Death Stalker was still standing strong, preparing to drag its tail out of the frozen wall.

The team regrouped, not letting a second go by before choosing their artifacts. Ruby looked back over at the Death Stalker, but noticed the two people in its grasp. The blonde haired girl followed the gaze of Ruby, until finally asking "What the hell is up with them two?" while pointing towards the two unconscious teenagers. "I'm not sure, Yang, but we need to get them away from it." Blake responded in a worried tone, which also seemed to make her bow twitch. Nora noticed this, but thought that it must've been the wind that moved them, as she noticed a slight breeze passing by, only for Jaune to mention "Guys, that thing is circling back! What're we gonna do?" while pointing towards the Nevermore that was screeching as it darted towards them.

Then, the white haired member of the group spoke out. "Look there's no sense in dilly-dallying. We already have our artifacts.". "She's right" Ruby responded. "Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the cliffs", which made Weiss smile as she was finally getting the respect she felt like she deserved. "There's no point in fighting these things." she finished off, with Jaune agreeing that he can get behind an idea where they all survive.

"But what about them two?" the ice princess questioned while staring at both of the teenagers, which in her eyes were a pair of dolts for getting themselves in this situations. "We can't just leave them here!". Ruby was quick to respond, "Weiss is right, we still need to protect them!" she said while watching the two male teenagers, who were still unconscious, and didn't seem to even realise that they were in any danger.

Ren started to notice part of the ice, holding the Death Stalker, was beginning to break. "Time we left." he said as Nora stared at him, ready for any order he may give. "Right." Ruby responded as she ran over towards a cliff, watching over the entirety of the Emerald Forest. Yang stayed back for a few moments for two reasons. The first was to wander how the group will save the two teenagers, and the second was to admire her younger sister, Ruby, on how she has become an incredible person and leader. After she spectated her younger sister, she followed her towards the cliffs.

The group, now running towards what looked like some demolished towers, knew that the Death Stalker was chasing the group from behind whilst the Nevermore was in front. With the team being distracted by the Nevermore, the Death Stalker made its move and made a berserking rush towards the gang. "Nora, distract it", calmy said by Ren, knowing that his maniac orange-haired friend would be up to the challenge. She bolted out of cover, charging for a good spot to fire her grenade launchers directly towards the winged beast and upon impact, the beast staggered backwards, only to start circling around the arena.

The Death Stalker then crashed through the trees of the forest, quickly closing in on the distracted Nora. Nora, who noticed last second that her clawed foe was behind her, was saved by Blake and Ren deflecting the incoming pincers coming to strike her, while Weiss grabbed Nora, and used a glyph to get them both to safety.

All eight hunters and huntresses ran across a bridge which was in the open, allowing for any attack by the Nevermore. Blake, being the last person to get on the bridge, narrowly avoided the Death Stalkers pincers, which still refused to crush the two passed out passengers of its claws.

While the group was halfway across the bridge, the Nevermore swooped down and crashed into the bridge, leaving Blake, Pyrrha and Ren to deal with the Death Stalker, and Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Nora and Jaune to deal with the Nevermore. Jaune, glancing over towards the team taking on the Death Stalker, yelled towards Nora "We gotta get over there! They need help!" Without hesitation, Nora knocked Jaune back on the broken bridge, and slammed her hammer directly down, causing the bridge to launch Jaune in the air towards the Death Stalker while Nora fired again, sailing in the same direction.

Nora slammed directly on the head of Death Stalker, making it throw its pincers in the air, releasing the two helpless bystanders and launching them towards a wall overlooked by a huge cliff. "Great! Now I can really go all out!" Nora yelled in a psychotic tone, mere seconds before she was hit with the stinger, sending her directly into Blake, who dropped fell of the bridge.

Blake, who was already prepared for this kind of situation, threw her Gambol Shroud towards an undamaged piece of the bridge, allowing for her to swing directly towards the Nevermore. She used her semblance to get closer to the giant bird. Once reaching the Nevermore, she struck the creature eight times, before running of the tail of the giant creature.

Blake, who reached Yang, Ruby and Weiss, now noticed the Nevermore coming in for another attack. Yang yelled out the 3 other huntresses "Let's give it everything we got" and with all in sync, they got their weapons ready. All firing at once, Ruby using the sniper rifle part of her scythe named Crescent Rose, Weiss using her rapier named Myrtenaster mixed with her glyphs, Blake using pistol named Gambol Shroud, and Yang using her shotgun gauntlets named Ember Celica, were all firing at once, trying anything and everything to take the winged beast down.

The Nevermore crashed into the colossal tower, shattering it with ease, causing all of the huntresses to find a way to climb up on their own. Yang, no who immediately got back into the fight after recovering, started to hold off the Nevermore. Ruby, who stared at the newly recovered Blake, told Weiss "I have a plan." Which was quickly followed by a "Cover me!" from the small red-head.

On the other side of the arena, Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha and Ren were now under attack from the Death Stalker, which had attacked the bridge causing it to slowly collapse, giving the team a short amount of time to deal with the Death Stalker, and get to safety. Pyrrha started the assault by deflecting one of the pincers off the Grimm while simultaneously attacking it with her spear. The Death Stalker attempted to counter-attack, only to be stopped by Jaune with his shield, putting all of his might into stopping a deadly blow while Pyrrha hits again knowing she had someone watching her back.

The Death Stalker tried striking the ground, only for the attack to miss any target. Ren took this opportunity to grab onto its tail, and fire down on the Death Stalker stinger. Nora started to fire her grenade launcher causing it to flinch, however this sent Jaune and Pyrrha back. Jaune, who couldn't find his footing, eventually fell over while Pyrrha instantly recovered, sending her spear directly into the Grimms eye making the creature cry out in pain, and spinning its tail about frantically throwing Ren directly into a pillar.

Jaune, who finally recovered, saw that the stinger was weak, and notified Pyrrha. "Done!" is all she responded as she threw her shield directly towards the start of the stinger, knocking it off, and landing directly on the head of the Death Stalker while her shield bounced perfectly back into her grip.

"Nora, nail it!" Jaune ordered, while Nora yelled at Pyrrha "Heads up!" Pyrrha immediately understood what she meant, put her shield above, while Nora landed on the shield, fired down causing her to get launched directly into the sky! As she came rocketing down, she fired her hammer again for increased speed, slamming down onto the stinger, followed by another explosion, collapsing the bridge, and throwing the Death Stalker into a deep chasm while the rest of the team got launched with a heavy landing onto the ground, meters away from the giant drop.

With their fight over, they looked up the see a certain yellow-headed girl on a pillar releasing missiles on the Nevermore.

The Nevermore circled around and started making it's way directly towards Yang while she jumped in its direction. In mid-air, the Nevermore opened its mouth, ready to chomp down on the blonde beauty...that was...until the giant bird found out it couldn't close its mouth! Yang had lodged herself in the beak of the Nevermore! "I! Hope! You're! Hun-gry!" she yelled while firing five shotgun shells one after another into the mouth of the jumps backwards and lands on the ground, looking behind her as the Nevermore slammed into the same wall that the two unconscious teenagers during the fight between Jaune's group, and the Death Stalker.

Before the Nevermore could fly away, Weiss took advantage, and sped towards it using her glyphs to get some ensured speed. She used the dust inside Myrtenaster to create an ice wall that attached itself to the tail of the flying beast. As she retreats, Blake was wrapping her weapon around a pillar, and then throws over Gambol Shroud towards Yang. Yang catches it with ease and proceeds to do the same. Ruby fired her way upwards and onto the makeshift catapult. After getting far enough back, Weiss prepared a powerful glyph which Ruby would settle into, allowing for Ruby to get extra power behind her jump. "Of course you would come up with this idea." Weiss said, almost shocked that the plan could be possible. Ruby replied with "Think you can make the shot?" which was shortly replied with a confident "Hmph. Can I?". However, the confidence went right over Ruby's head as she had worried face asked again. "Can y-". "Of course I can!" snapped Weiss as she fired Ruby directly towards the Nevermore. Ruby flew towards it and continued to fire her sniper rifle towards the ground, giving her extra air time. As she landed next to the neck of the giant bird, she placed Crescent Rose at its neck...and waited.

Weiss was now hard at work creating multiple speed glyphs which would allow Ruby, mixed with her speed semblance, to run up the wall. Once all glyphs were made, she ran directly up, leaving rose petals where she once stood. With Crescent Rose gripping the Nevermores neck, the bird was dragged up the wall, and once reaching the top, it had nowhere to go, forcing the head of the Nevermore to fly off.

Everyone who had took part in both fights now felt relieved, but also like passing out. After everyone had regrouped, they walked over to the two still unconscious teenagers that someone had stayed the same throughout the entire fight.

"How in the hell did they both just sleep through that!?" Weiss questioned, looking more angered than concerned. "I do not have a clue, but I could learn a thing or two from them." Yang responded with an enormous grin on her face. Ruby, looking in horror at her sister started squealing "Ewwww. Eww eww eww eww ewwwwww.". "What?" Yang responded, still with a grin. "I was just suggesting we should _Yang_ -out! Get it?"

"This is no time for jokes." Blake said with a serious expression. "They're both burning up!" she said while holding her hand up to one of their heads. "We need to get them to the medical wing as soon as possible!". "But how?" Ruby questioned. "We have to get back to the cliffs, and it sooooo far away…" she said with a sad look in her eyes. "No problem!" both Nora and Yang said, and in unison, they both picked up a stranger separately , and carried them to where they would meet Professor Ozpin.


	2. Chapter 2 - Broken Memories

**Chapter 2 - Broken Memories**

With two teenagers in the medical wing after receiving some medical attention, a rising sun beamed on the two and brought a sudden awakening, simultaneously bringing the two awake. Doctors who were working nearby noticed them waking up, and called Professor Ozpin. Immediately, the professor appeared with who seemed one of his female co-workers. Professor Ozpin was inspecting the two mysterious teenagers. He knew one thing for certain which was that they definitely weren't from Vale. The one on the left, who had dark, ginger hair with purple tips at the end of each strand. He was wearing a violet coloured jacket, with the exception of the cuffs, collar, and zipper being black. His shirt was short-sleeved, black, and could been despite having his jacket on, only when it wasn't zipped fully. His trousers were black, but had two stripes of violet, one on the inside, and another on the outside. He looked around the room with his grey eyes, unable to recognise where he is. The one on the right, who had pastel blue ombre short hair with hazel eyes, wore a light blue short-sleeved tailcoat. Inside the tailcoat was a white buttoned down t-shirt whilst his trousers were plain jet black pants. Managing to notice his surroundings, he scanned around the room to find professor Ozpin. Both, with confused expressions, were staring at the professor while he was carefully glanced at the one on the right, then back to the left, and then to the right again.

With Ozpin breaking the silence, he spoke. "Hello, my name is Professor Ozpin. I am the headmaster at Beacon Academy. I want to ask you two a few questions. Who are you and where are you from?". "I ca-, can't remember" the one on the right responded, unable to recall any events before the Death Stalker crisis . "What about you?" Ozpin questioned, looking at the one on the left side of the room, only to be met with the same answer. "Well," he continued, "you are in Vale, but more specifically, Beacon. Do either of you know how old you are?", "Not a clue…" The one on the right replied. "Hmm." Ozpin said to himself, "Well you both seem of similar age, but you both look younger than the first years...except Ruby Rose.". Ozpin brought his attention back to the pair. "I'd have to assume that you're both 16. Which makes me think, why were two 16 year olds in the Emerald Forest, and why were they both unconscious?".

The woman who entered the room with Ozpin began to speak. "Goodmorning, my name is Glynda Goodwitch, a Professor at Beacon Academy." she says in a proud tone. "You say you don't have any memory...does that also mean you don't remember any of the events in the Emerald Forest?". Both of them looked around, only for the left side to respond. "I'm sorry, but I don't think either of us have ever heard of Vale, let alone an...Emerald Forest?" he questioned, wondering if the forest would actually be made of real emeralds.

"Well do you atleast know who you both are?" Ozpin questioned, only for both to respond with a simple "No.". "Well, I think I can help with that." Ozpin said, before revealing two name tags, with pictures of both of them. "We found these on your jackets, however the pictures were on opposite jackets. Any idea how that might have happened?" as Ozpin gave them their respectful names. The boy on the right, who now found out his identity was Jason Leung, stared thoughtfully out the window, trying to think of anything that could reveal what had happened.

The boy on the left, who found out his name was Matthew Diack, replied in an angry manner. "Listen, I'm sure by now you know who we are more than we do. If we knew anything, we would've spoke about it, but as it stands, I don't think either of us know what's going on.". "I understand you may be angry after what you've been through, but we just have to make sure. We will try to help you as much as we can. For now, get some rest. Doctors will start doing tests to find out if you have any more injuries. When you are done, a nurse will let me know. I'll get one of my students to escort you to my room, which is at the top of the tower." Ozpin responded, while simultaneously using his cane to point out the window, and towards a enormous tower.

With that, Professor Ozpin left and Glynda followed, leaving Matthew and Jason alone. "So, seems we're both in the same boat. Think it's amnesia?" Jason questioned Matthew. "I think so. Amnesia would cause loss of memory, but what I'd like to know is what caused it. That Ozpin guy said we were in an Emerald Forest. Maybe something in that forest has answers for us, or whoever helped us get out. I wonder if the forest is really made of emeralds!" Matthew said as a joke. Jason glared over, giving Matthew chills that raced down his spine...only for him to burst out laughing, causing him to wipe his eyes from tears. A sigh of relief came from Matthew, knowing that he could have some sort of joke with the person he was stranded with.


	3. Chapter 3 - The World Of Remnant

**Chapter 3 - The World of Remnant**

After falling asleep, an unknown knock was at the door, and a soft toned voice entering the room "Hello... ummm, is anyone here?". With the mysterious voice been heard by Matthew and Jason, both woke up and realised that someone was behind the door. "What's up?" responded by Matthew to the mysterious voice. "May I enter?". "Umm...sure." Jason responded. The door slowly opened and a mysterious figure shaped like a female entered the room, a red headed amazon approached towards the two teenagers and revealed her name to Matthew and Jason as Pyrrha Nikos and the two responded by telling the amazon their names.

"It seems like I'm here to escort you two to professor Ozpin." said Pyrrha in which Jason replied with "I'm guessing you are one of the students of this academy who was sent by professor Ozpin to fetch us". Pyrrha quickly responded to the question, "Yes, Beacon Academy is one of the four academies in the world of Remnant, the other three are Haven Academy, Shade Academy and Atlas Academy in which all academies consist of student, all who are willing to fight the Grimm and free this world from the darkness that infects this world". "That's pretty deep" said Jason followed by Matthew, "What the hell is a Grimm?"."A Grimm is a beast of darkness, born from evil and humanities enemy. They first came to the world of Remnant to terrorise every living thing but humanity wasn't ready for any sought of battle, so we learned, fought, and manifested power. This power is our core strength and we called this strength... semblance. These semblance ranges from different abilities from each individual's." replied Pyrrha. "Semblances!? They sound...so...awesome!" Matthew responded in an ecstatic manner. Pyrrha, releasing a slight giggle, agreed with "Yes, they are indeed." before asking them to hurry up in order to meet the professor.

As the two left their beds to follow Pyrrha, some small talk was made to pass the time. "Wait...so an aura is...like a forcefield!?" Jason questioned which was responded by Pyrrha "Yes, if you want to think of it that way.". As they carried on walking, Matthew had a questioning expression come across his face. "How come you aren't confused with us asking these many questions? The majority of the answers seems like anyone should know, but you just seem so calm and relaxed while answering.". Pyrrha was expecting this question to pop up. "Well...you see...the professor kinda told me before hand that you had both lost your memories, and that I should be patient with you both, since this is all new to you." the redhead responded. Matthew took note of this and said "Ahh, I understand. So you got orders from the professor to give us the basics in what's going down.". "Exactly!" Pyrrha responded chipperly, while Jason was in complete shock at the size of the Academy, "Matthew, have you seen the size of this place! This is...humongous!".

As the three were walking towards the tower, Matthew and Jason noticed other students wearing all different kinds of outfits, but what stood out the most was what they were carrying. "Pyrrha…" Jason asked worryingly. "What the hell are they carrying!?" He yelled, pointing towards a huge guy carrying what seemed to be some sort of giant sword. "Oh that thing?" Pyrrha questioned. "That's just a two-handed sword." "You say that like it's a normal thing!" Matthew responded. Pyrrha snapped back "Well that is normal for us! It's what we use to fight against Grimm.". "You told us you fight Grimm!", Matthew said, still amazed at how this huge guy could carry it over his shoulder with ease, "But you didn't tell us you looked like complete badasses while doing it!" giving Pyrrha a slight smile before telling them of her own weapons.

After two minutes of waiting, the elevator finally arrived at the top of the tower, only to be greeted by none other than Professor Ozpin. "Good morning. Jason. Matthew. I hope you had a good rest." to which Matthew quickly responded "Best I can remember!" giving Ozpin smile. "At Least we know you can put a smile on nearly anyones face." the professor said, before looking more serious. "Do either of you know what it is that I teach at this school?". Jason responded, saying "Well we sorta know that you teach people how to fight using some real sort of awesome weapons!". "Although that is a main reason for teaching, I see myself teaching people why we fight, and the reasons behind what we do. I'm sure you've been told about Grimm, and how they attempt to ruin this world. Well we train warriors, or as we call them hunters and huntresses, to take them down. In this world, we need as many hunters and huntresses we can get, and so, I was wondering, if you would be willing to join my school, as first years.".

Jason and Matthew stared at each other, thinking of countless possibilities that could occur from this. "I'm definitely NOT saying we aren't interested, but even if we did know how to fight, we've forgotten now, and it's not like we have weapons to fight with." Jason responds to the heart-stopping question. Professor Ozpin looked, with a smile on his face, and said "Ah, but that's the reason for coming to an academy, to be taught, and you will craft your own weapons within time.". Matthew looked excited and said "Wait a second. We get to MAKE them!" which was quickly interrupted by Jason saying "Even if we are put in as first years, won't we still be far behind everyone else?". "Nonsense." The professor said. "The first years have only just started, and lucky for you, your friend Pyrrha here is in the same lessons you have. That reminds me, you are yet to know the people that saved you both. At the time, none of them were in a team, but now, all of them have started first year, and have all joined up as two teams. Both team RWBY and team JNPR helped you both,you already have met Pyrrha so you will have people who know you, and are willing to help you out. So...what do you say?" before putting his hands in front of him, waiting for the pair of them to give their answer.

"Well I'm not sure about you," Jason said "but I don't exactly have anywhere else to go, so I guess I'm in.". "Yea, same goes for me." Matthew responded. "Couldn't hurt meeting a few more people.". "Excellent!" Ozpin exclaimed. "I'll get you your uniforms and your room keys. You'll be starting classes within two days, so be prepared. Try looking around before your lessons, learn your surroundings. Your room will be one room down from team JNPR, I'm sure Pyrrha will take you there!.". When Jason and Matthew both realized that the redhead was still waiting at the back of the room. "Of course! Not a problem at all!" Pyrrha responded in a high pitch and friendly tone. "Welcome to Beacon!"


	4. Chapter 4 - Welcome to Beacon

**Chapter 4 - Welcome to Beacon**

Upon leaving the office, Pyrrha guided Matthew and Jason towards their rooms while the both continuing the conversation with Pyrrha, Jason enthusiastically said "So what team are you on, team RWBY or team JNPR", with Pyrrha expected Jason to come up with the question that enlightened a smile on her face and replied "I'm in team JNPR and people in it are Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren, all of who saved you two from the Death Stalker clutches". Coming with an instant response from Matthew, questioned "Wait, so all them have unique weapons as well!?", Pyrrha answered by explaining all of team JNPR weapons, "Last but not least, Jaune, he has… well… a sword and shield…". "Is that it..a sword and shield, you'd think that everyone would have badass weapons..." responded Matthew with a surprised look on his face. But within little silence, the two can see the slight admiration she had for Jaune and stopped the conversation.

"We're here!" Pyrrha said. "Welcome to your new room! All the rooms here and nearly the same, so it shouldn't be too difficult finding any essentials, but if you do need any assistance, remember I'm only down the hall.". "Sure thing!" Matthew replied followed up by Jason saying "Thanks Pyrrha. Hopefully we'll get to see you and your team later in the week. It wouldn't hurt knowing other people while in this place". Pyrrha gave a slight chuckle before responding. "Of course! I'm sure you'll get to see both team JNPR and team RWBY. Until then, I'd suggest spending today gathering essentials. It wouldn't hurt going down to the Vale markets either. Just looking around and getting to know the place will always come in handy.". With that, Pyrrha walked off, leaving the two to get accustomed.

"Hey, Matthew, wanna go to the Vale market with me?" said by Jason in which was casually replied "Just call me Matt buddy, and yeah sure, I think it's best if we know what is around us.". And so, the two left to venture to the unknown, only to get lost walking around the academy. The clueless pair continued their search for an exit but heard a conversation coming from a fountain, where four girls were sitting around. "Yaaaang! Don't say that stuff! It's...gross!" a girl with a red hood shouted, while the blonde girl, who Jason and Matt now knew was called Yang, looked towards a girl with black hair trying to get a high-five from her. "Come on! Don't leave me... _yangin'_! Get it!" Before anyone could sigh at the pun, everyone looked over to see Jason howling in laughter. "See! He gets it!" Yang says before turning around to see the two that team RWBY and team JNPR saved earlier in the week. "Look! It's them!" Ruby yelled, using her semblance to rush over to use, leaving the rest of her team to catch up.

"Heyhow'reyoudoingIhopeyou'refeelingbetter!" The girl in red rushed to say, before Matt questioned "E-excuse me?" wondering what she had just said. Just then, the girl in white showed up. "RUBY! Slow down, will you? People don't know what you say when you speak like that, you dolt!". "Sorry. I'm just so excited to meet new people!" Ruby responded chipperly. "I'm sorry, but I don't recognise any of you. Do you know them?" Matt questioned Jason, only for him to see Jason wiping his eyes from laughter, while also shaking his head. "I'm afraid you may have the wrong person." Jason told the group of four.

"No. It's definitely you." A girl with black hair with a bow in responded. "You were the two that were took to the medical wing after the events of Emerald Forrest, correct?" she continued. "Okaaaaaaaaay…" Matt responded. "I guess you have the right people, but neither of us know you.". "Well I guess introductions are needed." The white haired girl said. "That's our team leader, Ruby Rose. I'm Weiss Schnee, the former heiress the the Schnee family." she said, sounding proud, but looking almost ashamed. She continued "This here is Blake Belladonna." She whispered over "She doesn't talk much." only for Blake to yell "I heard that!" before she continued to read her book. Weiss then pointed to the last member of the group, "And that's the hot head of the group, Yang Xiao Long.". "Nice to meet ya!" Yang said, with a grin on her face.

"And together", Ruby began to say, "we make...TEAM RWBY!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, while the rest of the team RWBY started to facepalm at how she introduced the team. "Wait…" Matt and Jason said simultaneously. "You're...team RWBY!?" they both yelled. "See. Our team is already getting recognition!" Ruby said, with an excited expression on her face. "So you were the ones that saved us.I can't thank you enough!" Jason exclaimed, while shaking the hands of every member of team RWBY. "Yea." Matt continued, "You really helped us out. I'm sorry we didn't recognise you, but it's been awhile since we woke up.". "It's no problem." Yang started to explain what had happened during the Emerald Forest events. "You were both out like lights, even after being slammed into a wall. And speaking about slamming…" Yang continued, while walking closer to the pair. "Do you both wanna...see how I smash the hell out of Grimm in the training simulator room?" Yang had a very devious smile on her face, knowing how her sister would've reacted if she didn't talk about training. "Umm, sure." Jason said, with Matt agreeing it could help getting to know everyone.

On the way to the training room, it hit Blake that neither of them had told them their names. "So...you know are names, what are yours?" Blake said with Weiss backing her up. "Well, from what I've been told, this is Jason, and I'm Matt." Matt began to say, while Jason said "Nice to meet you all!" "What do you mean 'from what you've been told'?" "Well...ya see…" Jason begun to say, before getting interrupted by Matt "We both kinda lost our memories and don't remember anything before waking up in the medical wing. We only know our names because we had name tags." "So...you don't remember anything?" Yang said. "Do you know if either of you have a gir-" Ruby intruded on the conversation and dragged Yang away towards the training rooms "Yang that is ENOUGH!.". "Seems like they're heading down to the training rooms now." Blake pointed out, which was followed up with Weiss saying "Yeah, we should follow." "Sounds like a plan!" Both Matt and Jason said before they all went after the two sisters.

Once Weiss, Blake, Jason and Matt reached the training rooms, they were greeted by saying "Took ya long enough. This is the training room, the place we go to in order to master our skills and techniques. Why don't you give it a go?" Yang said, before realising that neither of them had any sort of weapon equipped. "We...actually...don't have weapons…" Jason said, before giving a nervous chuckle. "What!?" Weiss exclaimed. "Then how did you even manage to get into the academy?" "Well, Ozpin said that everyone could use another pair of hunters, so we took him up on the offer to stay here, that and it's not like we really have anywhere else to go." Matt informed them of the previous conversation they both had with Ozpin. "Oh.."Ruby said, sounding sad "I really wanted to see what kind of weapons you both had." "Well soon enough, we'll start with lessons and then get onto workshop. Hopefully we can learn how to create weapons." Matt decided to say, getting Ruby's hopes up, knowing that she will be able to see weapons when they're first made.

"Well, since we're already here, how about our team show you what a real fight looks like?" Yang says, looking ready for a challenge. Just the idea of the fight got Matt excited. "I don't see why not." Jason responded. "Hopefully we can pick up some fighting techniques from all of you." Once choosing the settings for the Grimm that would appear, the training room would simulate waves of Grimm, some creatures looking incredibly deadly, and others attacking in packs.

After the fight, the pair went down to see team RWBY, and congratulate them on how well they did. "Damn, so that's a Grimm, huh?" Matt said, looking shocked. "Well that's just a few of them." Weiss informed them. "We only managed to take down 127, so you won't see the more challenging ones until we all improve." Blake said, putting her weapon back in its sheathe. "Well atleast we gotta see those awesome weapons!" Matt said, and continued by saying "I can't wait to start creating mine!" before he was stopped by Weiss as she said "Do you even know what weapon you might create?". "Well...no...but I'm sure that I'll know by the time I get to doing it!" Matt replied. "Yeah!" Ruby said. "We'll all help you as well, since workshop will more than likely just be us looking at ways to create weapons, we can actually help you both design, create and customize your very own!" She continued, before having to stop herself as she realized she was getting too excited and hyper again. "Just make sure it's a weapon that suit your personality." Yang said. "When creating a weapon, you need to know what it is you're creating, and why you're creating it. This will help you stay motivated to making it, and make it feel extremely special, like my little Ember Celica."

"Well, today's been a long day!" Ruby began to say. "Maybe we should get back to our dorms. I could really use a rest!" She continued. "I can get behind that." Jason said. They all started making their way back to the dorms, before Weiss stopped them. "One more thing." She said while looking at Jason and Matt. "You know a fair amount about us, and I'm sure we would all like to know more. So how about tomorrow we all go for dinner? And paying won't be an issue either. I know a perfect restaurant that's owned by the Schnee family, and they'll let us dine for free. So what do you say?". "Aww, Weiss. It sounds like you're asking us all out on a date!" Yang said, clearly mocking her. "N-n-not at all. It's j-just a friend and team thing!" Weiss exclaimed, looking bright red a very flustered. "Sure, sure." Matt said. "It's a date!" he continued while laughing. "Meet us at the fountain at 6pm, we'll walk you down!" Yang yelled as everyone entered their rooms.


	5. Chapter 5 - Friend's and Foes

The next day, both Matt and Jason continued to look around the academy. Eventually, they came across the same girl they met when they were asked to go up to Professor Ozpin. "Hey, you're Pyrrha, right?" Jason said, before calling over towards the red headed girl, who seemed to be speaking to a blonde boy, a girl wearing pink, and another guy in green. "Oh, hey!" Pyrrha responded. "These are the guys I told you about. You know, my teammates. This here's Jaune, the guy with the sword and shield.". "Hey, how ya doin'?" Jaune asked in cheery tone. " "Not too bad, how about you?" Matt responded. "Well knowing that both of you are fine now, a lot better." Jaune answered. "That's Nora, she's quite... lively...". Pyrrha continued. "Hello hello hello! You wanna go break some legs sometime!?" Nora yelled, clearly over excited about something that had happened before the conversation. "Umm...I'll think about it…" Jason said, looking worried for his own safety, and anyone else's safety that she may deem 'leg-breaking worthy'. "And this here's Ren. He's...the exact opposite of Nora. But we all still get along!" "Hello." Ren said simply, but with a welcoming smile. "So you're the rest of team JNPR?" Jason began to say which was followed up by Matt saying "From what I heard, you really saved our skins back in the Emerald Forest. I don't even know how to begin to thank you!". "Oh ya know, it's just part of the job!" Jaune said with a big smile, knowing that someone was grateful for his actions.

"So, where are you two heading?" Pyrrha asked. "Ohh, we're just looking around the academy." Jason responded. "We're hoping that we can learn where all the lessons and rooms are before we start tomorrow, but at this rate, we're probably gonna have to spend the rest of today just to get it round our heads. We can't stay out for too long though, we're heading out to a restaurant in Vale later tonight with team RWBY." "Yeah." Matt saying, backing up what Jason had said. "They said something about wanting to get to know us more, and there's no way I'm giving up a chance to get some free food!".

"Ohh, so you're going on a date with the snow angel? Good luck!" Jaune began to say, before he was cut off by Jason. "It's not a date, just a way for friends to get to know each other.". "Sure, sure." Jaune continued to mock. "Just know that it's difficult to get that snow angel.". "We'll let you know how it goes, but it's not a date!" Matt yelled over as they both started to search around the academy again.

After a few more hours, the two were getting ready to head towards the fountain, where they would meet up with team RWBY, and spend the night out at dinner. As they started making their way down, they bumped into a group of four men, that looked around the same age as them, apart from one, who seemed to be in charge of the group. The leader of the group pushed Matt out of the way. "Watch where you're going!" the leader said. "Yeah, or you'll regret the day you messed with Cardin Winchester!" One of his friends continued. "Sorry, my bad!" Matt said clearly annoyed at the confrontation. He would've said something to antagonize the group, but knew that how the odds were, he didn't want to create any issues before even starting at the academy. "Just watch where you're going!" Cardin continued, before walking off laughing with his friends. "Sorry man." Jason said. "I would've backed you up, but neither of us can really fight yet, and we're definitely outmatched.". Matt responded saying "Don't worry about it. We would've got messed up pretty bad if anything got out of hand. For now, let's just enjoy tonight.". "Sounds like a plan!" Jason said, as they both made their way to the fountain.

Once they reached the fountain they met up with team RWBY, and went of it to Vale with the girls, not mentioning the recent confrontation so that the atmosphere of the group wasn't ruined. Matt, Jason and team RWBY all shared a laugh while getting towards the restaurant which they soon discovered was called Appetite's Dust. Once they walked in, they noticed that only a few tables were took up, mostly of people in fancy clothing making both Jason and Matthew feel out of place. Once seated, everyone ordered their food, which Jason and Matt decided for theirs to be a surprise since they had both forgot what foods they liked and disliked.

After a while, Blake decided that a good way for them to get to know Jason and Matt would be by each of them asking a question. The thought of only one was good since neither of them could remember too much because of their lost memory. Ruby, who thought this was the best idea ever created, began her excited rambling again. "Can I go first!? Can I!?" "I don't see why not, unless anyone else wants to go first?" Matt said, which was met with everyone agreeing that Ruby can go first if she wanted.

"Okay, so I know it hasn't been too long, but do you have any idea on what your weapons will be?" Ruby questioned, with excitement in her eyes. Weiss looked at her in anger "Ruby! That's what you ask? It's been one day, so how do you think they've figured that out ye-" before she was cut out by Matt saying "Well after seeing your fight yesterday, and looking at other people's weapons, I think I have a bit of an idea, but I wanna leave it a surprise for now. What about you Jason?" Jason responded "The same goes for me. I have a few ideas, but want to see everyone face in shock once it's made!". "Alright, who's next?" Matt asked, which Weiss took the opportunity to get to know her new friends.

"Alright, shoot!" Matt said, which was met by Weiss' question. "What dust crystals do you like the most?" "I'm sorry, what crystals?" Jason said, not understanding what Weiss just asked. "Oh yeah, I guess you forgot what they are." Weiss said, in a shocked tone. "Dust crystals are what we can use for power. For example, we can use it in our weapons, giving them a boost. I guess my question doesn't really matter for now, but once you know, tell me, and I can get you a lot of it." "So we can add it in our weapons?" Jason responded. "That changes my designs completely!". "It's the same for me." Matt told them all. "Mine's changed as well. However, I can still picture how I can use them." "Them!" Ruby yelled out, getting views from random customers at the restaurant "So there's two of them!" Ruby squealed out. "You'll find out soon enough." Matt said giving a slight chuckle.

"So what about you Blake. What do you wanna ask?" Jason said. As he questioned her, Matt noticed her looking at them both with a serious look on her face.. "What are your opinions on faunus'?" Although looking serious, she said it with a hopeful tone. "What are faunus?" Jason said, making Blake's eyes go wide with shock. "Wow. You really have forgot everything then!" Blake said. "Faunus look just like people, but shair traits of certain animals. For example, the majority of them can see in the dark. Some of them even have ears and tails, representing what animal traits they have. Faunus kind created a group called the White Fang, where at first, they protested calmly, but have recently been...attacking innocent people at these protests, making them a recently new terrorist organisation. But not all faunus are part of the White Fang, only some of them are.". "Well…" Matt began to say. "The White Fang sound like a lot of trouble. Definitely something I don't want any part of. Faunus however…" Matt continued, making Blake look scared waiting for the answer. "From what I know, they haven't done anything wrong to me, so I have no reason to dislike them." "Yeah!" Jason said. " You can be anything! As long as they don't do anything to me or the people I care about, you're all good in my book!" Jason continued. "Oh good!" Blake said, sounding relieved. "I just wanted to know if you would stereotype people just because of other groups. Fortunately, you don't. Which I can only thank you for!"

Yang, knowing she was the last one, got on with her question immediately. "Alright, so I've not been able to ask this question because SOMEONE…" Yang says, while glaring at Ruby "keeps on stopping me! All I want to ask is are either of you in a relationshi-" She was cut off by Ruby, before carrying on, knowing that everyone had their chance at questions. "As I was saying. Are either of you in a relationship with someone else, and if not, have you had your eyes on anyone since you got here?" Yang said, with a very obvious grin on her face. "Yang!" Jason began to say. "We've only been awake for a few days! Dating people is probably the last thing we want to think abo-" Jason got cut off by Matt who simply said "I've got my eyes on a few girls." He said, smiling happily while looking out of the window, getting some attention of most team RWBY. "Ohh, lucky them." Yang replied, thinking that there was a good chance of one of these girls was in team RWBY.

Soon enough, they were served their food, and all enjoyed the night. Eventually, they all started making their way back to beacon, and then back to their rooms. After everyone had said their goodbyes, Jason and Matt made their way back to the room. "Dude!" Jason said. "I have a good feeling about tomorrow!" Only for Matt to respond "Me too pal, me too." Before they both slumped in their beds, falling asleep, knowing that tomorrow was going to be the first day of lessons at Beacon Academy.


	6. Chapter 6 - The Girl With A Bow

**Chapter 6 - The Girl With A Bow**

After spending the night out, Jason and Matt both slept like rocks. That was until they got a knock on their door. When Jason answered, it turned out to be Ruby, yelling like a crazy person. "Ruby! What's gotten into you!?" He yelled, trying to get her to calm down. "We're gonna be late! We're gonna be late! We're gonna be late!" Jason then looked at his scroll, and realised that he and Matt had five minutes to get to lesson. "We'll be right out. Thanks Ruby!" and within a few moments, both Matt and Jason got changed, and ran out of the room, following team RWBY and team JNPR.

Once they got to the lesson, a teacher called Professor Port was teaching them all about different kinds of Grimm, and got lost talking about the times he had saved countless people, showing himself as a true hero. Weiss even got a chance to take on a Boarbatusk, giving everyone a real thrill and showing her skills at a huntress. Soon enough, the lesson was over, only for other lessons to take up the young hunters and huntresses day.

A few months had passed since to first day of class. Everyone seemed to be doing fine. Matt and Jason were finally put into their own team, and since there wasn't anyone else to be on their team, they were called team MaJor. Everyone thought that this automatically made Matt the leader of the group, but Matt and Jason cleared this up and said that they are as equal as each other, making no one the leader. They had finally started designing and creating their own weapons, and even got to go into a forest named Forever Fall, where they got to see Jaune against a giant Ursa. Seeing this made both Matt and Jason even more motivated to create their weapons, and try their best to stop anything else that could hurt them, or their friends. Both Matt and Jason got close as friends, since they had one major thing in common...their memory loss. Ever since they woke up, they both tried as hard as they could, with no luck, but that wasn't going to stop them from getting on with training as hard as they could.

"The Vytal festival! Oh this is absolutely wonderful!" Weiss said, only for Ruby to respond "I don't think I've ever seen you smile so much Weiss. It's kinds weirding me out…" "Wait, I haven't been told to much about the Vytal festival! What is it again?" Matt questioned, until he was cut off by Jason. "Dude! Miss Goodwitch went over it like three times!" He said sounding slightly annoyed. "Well if you must be told again…" Weiss responded "It's a festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There are dances, parades, even a tournament!" "Waitwaitwaitwaitwait" Matt said, sounding extremely excited. "You mentioned a tournament!?", "I did, but don't expect to participate! You haven't even made your weapon yet! So until that happens, you can kiss your chances goodbye.".

Just then, team RWBY and team MJ came across a shop which seemed to have been broken into. As they approached, Ruby asked two detectives "What happened here?". "Robbery." One detective said. "Second dust shop to be hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle." "What did they steal?" Jason questioned while the second detective responded "Dust. Only dust." He then turned towards the first detective "You think this is the White Fang?" before his partner said "I'm thinking we don't get paid enough."

"Hmph." Weiss began to say. "The White Fang. What an awful bunch of degenerates." "What's your problem with them?" Blake asked, only for Weiss to quickly respond "I don't have a problem. I just don't care for the criminally insane." "The White Fang aren't a bunch of psychopaths!" Blake said "They're a collection of misguided faunus." "Misguided?" Weiss questioned "They want to wipe humanity of the face of the planet!". Blake, becoming very protective, now said "So they're 'very' misguided! Either way it doesn't explain why they would rob a Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale." "She's got a point. Ruby said, backing up Blake. "Besides, it's not like the police ever caught that Torchwick guy I ran into a couple months back...maybe it was him?" She concluded. "That doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum. Those faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal." Jason began to say "That's not necessarily true…" before hearing a man yelling by the docks.

As both teams ran to the docks, they saw a faunus, with blonde hair, no shirt on, and a monkey tail run off a boat, while two men tried to stop him. "You no-good stow-away!" one member of the ship's crew yelled, while the monkey faunus yelled back "Hey! A "no-good" stow-away would've been caught! I'm a great stow-away!" He yelled back, while hanging from a light, and throwing a banana peel onto the a head of one of the detectives team RWBY and team MJ met earlier. After this he dove into the air, rolled on the ground and sprinted running past both teams, giving Blake a look, before carrying on running. "Well..he sure knows how to...monkey around? Anyone?" Matt said, before getting a high-five off Yang. "Quick. After him!" Weiss yelled, before everyone started to run where the monkey faunus was going.

As everyone was chasing, Weiss took lead. She ran directly into a girl with ginger hair with a big green bow, and a outfit that certainly Jason and Matt had never seen before. "Salutations! My name is Penny! It's a pleasure to meet you!" the orange-haired girl said after getting up. All of team RWBY introduced themselves, leaving team MJ to do the same. "Hey! I'm Matt! This here is-" Matt said before getting cut of by Jason. "I'm Jason. It's lovely meeting you." earning him a few odd stares from both groups.

"Well, sorry for running into you!" Weiss yelled over. "Take care, friend!" Ruby said before both teams started to slowly walk away. "Now, where did that faunus riffraff get run off to?" Weiss said until she noticed that the same girl was stood in front of her. "What did you call me?" Penny asked, looking at Ruby. "I-uh-I don-" Ruby struggled to say until Penny said "You called me 'friend'. Am I really your friend?" Ruby, who now looked over just to see everyone shaking their heads, said "Sure! Why not?". "Sen-sational!" Penny said, sounding thrilled. "We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!" just when she said that, Penny slightly turned her head towards Jason, causing him to blush a little.

"So...What're you doing in Vale?" Yang questioned. "I'm fighting in the tournament!" Penny responded. "I'm combat ready!" she said, while saluting. "Forgive me," Weiss began to say "but you hardly look the part. Wait...if you're fighting in the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed...rapscallion!?" "The who?" Penny questioned, while Weiss pulled out a badly drawn picture of the faunus while saying "The filthy faunus from the boat!".

"Why do you keep calling him that!?" Blake said, earning a few looks from both teams as the normally quiet girl started to yell a little. "Stop calling him a rapscallion. Stop calling him a degenerate. He's a person!". "Oh, I'm sorry!" Weiss said, sounding very agitated "Would you like me to stop referring to the trashcan as a trashcan, or lamppost as a lamppost?". "Stop It!" Blake said, becoming very defensive. "Stop what?" Weiss asked, feeling like she did nothing wrong. "He clearly broke the law! Give him time, he'll probably join up with those other faunus in the White Fang!". "You ignorant little brat!" Blake yelled before storming off. "How dare you talk to me like that I am your teammate!" Weiss said, before chasing after her. "No. You are a judgemental little girl!". "What in the world would make you say that?" Weiss questioned. Blake quickly responded by saying "The mere fact that that faunus boy is with the terrorist group solely based on his species makes you just as much as a scoundrel as you believe him to be!". "So you admit it; the White Fang 'is' just a radical group of terrorists!" Weiss said feeling she had outsmarted Blake, only for her to respond by saying "That's not what I meant and you know it!". At this point Matt tried to step in "Guys, come on. You're part of a team! Teams shouldn't argue! They should stick toge-" "SHUT UP!" Black and Weiss yelled at the same time, causing Matt to back down. "I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow, when everything's calmed down…" Matt said to Ruby and Yang, sounding very down. "Bye guys." Yang and Ruby said, feeling bad that their Friday afternoon had led to this.

Later that night, Matt and Jason were still up in their rooms, trying to get designs ready for their weapons. "Man, I can still hear them!" Jason complained, before turning to Matt. "Should we ask them to keep it down?". Matt responded by saying "There's no point. They've been doing it all day. They yelled at me when I tried to stop it, so there's no stopping it now.". "Yeah...I guess you're right." Jason sighed. A few minutes later Jason spoke again. "Do you hear that?". "What?" Matt replied "Exactly!" Jason said. "They aren't yelling! Do you think they stopped their argume-". Half way through the sentence, Jason and Matt's door swung open, only for Ruby to show up. "We need you!" she requested. "Blake just ran off and…" "And what Ruby!?" Matt replied, putting in his jacket to head out in. "We think...we think she's a faunus!".


	7. Chapter 7 - A Dark Past, A Bright Future

**Chapter 7 - A Dark Past Can Be A Bright Future**

"What!?" Jason and Matt said simultaneously "Ruby, just because she defends them doesn't mean that she is one.". "No, she admitted to being part faunus." Weiss said, walking into the room. "She tried defending that the faunus are just misguided, and when I kept on telling her that they weren't good people, she let it slip.". "Does anyone know where she is now?" Jason said, looking at his clock realising it'll be dark within half an hour. "No. But who cares? If she's faunus, then for all we know, we could be in danger whenever she's around!" Weiss said, sounding like everything she had said was a fact. "That's hardly the point, Weiss." Jason continued. "She's still our friend, and she's had all of our backs at least once. If she is a faunus, I don't think we'll have much of a chance of finding her at this time, and even if we do, the majority of faunus have great agility. I don't think any of us could catch up with her.". "He's right." Matt backed him up, "None of us have lessons tomorrow. We can head out then, and search for her. It should be easier for us to see then.". "You're really wanting to find a criminal?" Weiss questioned. "We don't know if she is, Weiss!" Jason yelled. "Just because she's a faunus doesn't mean she's bad! Just get some rest, tomorrow we're gonna need it.". "Fine, whatever…" Weiss said, before stepping into the hallway back towards her room. "We'll set of at 9am tomorrow." Ruby told team MJ. "By then, the sun should be up and we'll be able to get a good view, see you then." She waved Matt and Jason good bye. "Well." Jason said. "Let's go find us a faunus".

The next day, everyone was up earlier than normal. Especially Weiss, still angry that she has to help look for a 'criminal'. Once Ruby, Weiss, and Yang were ready, they went to team MJ's room where they all set of to search for Blake. "How likely is it that she's gonna be around Vale?" Ruby asked. "I'm not sure." Jason responded. "Hopefully she hasn't gotten too far..." Ruby continued. "In fact," Weiss began to say "I may know people who can help us find Blake." "Really!? Who?" Matt questioned. "The police." Weiss said, as if she had solved everyone's problems. "You're not helping." Ruby yelled, just for Weiss to sigh. "Maybe we should hear her side of the story before we jump to conclusions." Yang said, glaring at Weiss. "And I think you will all realise that I was right!" Weiss responded. "And I think Weiss' hair looks wonderful today." The group heard a familiar voice coming from behind them. "Penny!?" Ruby asked, sounding startled. "Where did you come from?". "Hey guys." Penny said, ignoring Ruby's question. "What're you up to?". "We're looking for Blake." Matt responded. "Ohh. You mean the faunus girl?" Penny said, bringing shock to everyone "Wait? How did you know?" Ruby asked, only for Penny to respond. "Uhhh, the cat ears?" Penny said, wondering how no one else could tell. "What cat ears? She wears a...bow." Yang said, putting all the pieces together. "She does like tuna a lot…" Ruby said, whispering to Yang.

"So, where is she?" Penny asked, beginning to look worried. "We don't know." Ruby responded "She's been missing since Friday.". Penny gasped, ran up to Ruby and grabbed her. "That's terrible!" She began. "Well don't you worry Ruby, my friend. I won't rest until we find your teammate!" "Oh it- it's fine. We're gonna be able to find her, right guys?" Ruby said, before looking over to realise that everyone, apart from Matt and Jason ran away.

Penny began asking tons of questions. Some that even sounded pointless like "Blake is your friend?" to which Ruby could only reply with "Yes." She continued her questions by asking "And you're mad at her?" "Well not us. Weiss is." Jason told Penny. Penny, who now had a confused look on her face, simply asked "Why?" "Well," Ruby began to answer, "Blake might not be who we thought she was." which made Penny gasp. "She's a man!?" Getting a few laughs from Matt before he responded. "We don't know what she is.". Ruby followed it up by saying "She didn't exactly talk before running off.". Penny, who was staring at the ground, told Matt, Jason, and Ruby, "I don't have many friends," before looking up towards the group, "but if I did, I'd want them to talk to me about things." which was followed up by Jason responding. "Me too, Penny. Me too.".

Ruby, Penny, Jason, and Matt continued searching all day, it even started to go dark and still no luck in finding Blake. "Ugh!" Ruby yelled. "This is hopeless…" She said, before hearing a huge explosion coming from a few blocks away. "What. Was. That!?" Matt yelled, seeing a cloud of smoke from near where the docks were. "I don't know, but we gotta find out!" Ruby said, before the group started to sprint towards the explosion.

Once they all got there, they saw the same monkey faunus from before, except this time, a man, with an odd suit, was pointing a game towards the faunus. "Is that that Roman Torchwick guy?" Jason asked, for Ruby to respond with a simple "Yes." Ruby yelled down towards Roman "Hey!" getting his attention. "Oh, hey red. Isn't it past your bedtime.". Matt, who saw that Roman still had his weapon drawn towards the faunus yelled "Leave them alone!". As he said this, Jason noticed Matt's hair becoming more purple, showing that 2/3rds of his hair was purple. "Guys, get back!" Ruby said, letting her guard down. Roman noticed this, and fired his weapon directly towards Ruby, sending Matt and Ruby into the air, before landing hard, knocking Matt out. Ruby got back up, and got Crescent Rose ready, only to see Penny walking towards the edge of the building. "Penny! Wait, stop!" Ruby pleaded, only for Penny to look behind her and say "Don't worry Ruby." She then looked in front, at her target and said "I'm combat ready!" before releasing several swords which seemed to have come from her back.

Penny launched herself of the building, landing in the middle of a two dozen of White Fang members. The White Fang launched themselves at Penny, but she was too quick with her weapons, taking down ten members in a single attack. At this point, three Bullheads had started to charge up their machine guns, and started to spray down bullets towards Penny. The orange-haired girl began to spin her swords frantically, blocking any bullets from getting close to her. She released two more swords from her back, grappling on the the nearest buildings behind her, and retracted herself backwards. She pushed her swords in front of her, and they started to spin increasingly getting faster. Eventually, a green light began to appear, and with a quick push of her hands, a green light had blasted out, slicing two of the Bullheads in half. "What the hell!?" Jason screamed. "I don't know. Ruby responded, confused at her sights as she saw Penny throwing her swords into the final Bullhead, smashing it down into even more cargo. "Woah!" Ruby exclaimed. "How is she doing that?". In this time, Penny didn't see that Roman Torchwick had managed to get onto the final Bullhead, which quickly lifted off.

Later on in the night, everyone was still at the docks getting questioned by the police. Ruby, Penny, Blake, the monkey faunus (who had recently revealed his name as Sun Wukong), Jason, and Matt, however, Matt was still unconscious from the blast. That was until "Ugh!" Matt inhaled loudly. "That. Was. Awesome!" He exclaimed. "Dude. Look at your hair." Jason said, still noticing it was more purple than normal. "What? Is it a mess?" Matt said, not noticing what was wrong. "Wait. Never mind that!". Turning his attention to Blake. "We've been searching for you for ages!" Matt said, before he heard footsteps coming from behind him.

Ruby was the first to look up, and saw her sister and Weiss walking together. Ruby got up, and tried to explain things to Weiss."Look, Weiss. It's not what you think. You see she doesn't actually wear a bow! She has kitty ears and they're actually kinda cute…" Ruby rushed to let out, but Weiss walked past walking directly to Blake.

"Weiss," Blake started. "I want you to know I'm no longer associated with the White Fang. Back when I was with-". "Stop." Weiss interrupted. "Do you have any idea how long we've been searching for you? Twelve hours!" She exclaimed. "That means I've had twelve hours to think about this. And in them twelve hours I've decided…" Everyone began to look at Weiss, expecting her to create another argument. "I don't care." Weiss simply said. "You don't care?" Blake repeated, wondering if she had heard Weiss correctly. "You said you're not one of them anymore, right?" "No." Blake explained. "I-I haven't been since I was younger-". She was cut of by Weiss "Upupupupup. I don't wanna hear it. All i want is for the next time something this big comes up, you'll come to your teammates, and not some…" she paused, thinking carefully about her words. "Someone else." Blake responded "Of course."

"Yeah! Team RWBY is back together!" Ruby exclaimed, clearly showing her joy at her two friends making up. Everyone huddled around, only for Weiss to glare at Sun. "I'm still not sure about you!. She yelled, making Sun laugh very nervously. "Hey, wait. Where's Penny?" Ruby asked, looking around for the orange-haired girl. "I didn't see her after the fight." Jason said. "Let's just head back for tonight. I'm sure she can handle herself.". "You can say that again." Matt responded. "I could sleep for a week.". "Well you can't sleep for that long. Both of your weapons are nearly finished, and you should finish them before the start of next semester." Weiss said, getting Ruby excited about the new weapons she will soon see. "Yeah! You need to finish them soon!" "We will." Jason responded. "But for now, I say we all deserve a rest." as they all made their way back to Beacon, getting a well deserved rest.


	8. Chapter 8 - To Fight for What's Right

**Chapter 8 - To Fight for What's Right**

One week had passed since the end of first semester. Jason and Matt had both fully functioning weapons which they refused to show anyone but eachother. This bummed out Ruby a lot, but it was always a way to get her excited if she ever got bored. Team JNPR, team RWBY, and team MJ were getting along better than ever since the incident at the docks. However, one thing that hadn't changed was Matt's hair. By now, he had noticed that it was more purple than ginger, but couldn't figure out why. All he could remember was getting hit by the blast, and blacking out.

"Man, the food here sucks today! I wonder if they had a problem in the kitchen?" Matt said, sounding agitated. "Jason and I have been training for the past week, and this is the food we get to keep our energy high?" He continued. "Stop complaining." Jason said, giving a slight chuckle. "At least we get to eat something.". "Yeah, that's true." Matt agreed. "Hey, Yang! Pass the salt!". "I haven't even used it yet!" She argued back. "Just wait a few moments, alright?" Matt began to shake a little before screaming "I SAID NOW!". Yang, who was taken back at the odd behaviour of Matt, didn't even know what to say. She was just staring in shock. "Dude! What's gotten into you?" Jason began to say, realising the rest of team RWBY and team JNPR were staring at Matt from his sudden outburst. "You've been acting like an asshole for a week now!". "I-I don't know. Something just came over me." Matt said, sounding genuinely sorry, "I'm sorry, Yang. I truly am.". "It's no biggie. I'm sure the training is just taking a lot out of you.", "Probably..." Matt said, feeling really bad that he'd yelled at one of his good friends.

All of a sudden, the three teams turned around to hear a girl crying out in pain. They turned around to see Velvet Scarlatina, a rabbit faunus, being picked on by a bully. The bully was Cardin Winchester. He didn't care who it was, as long as he could make someone's life a pain, they were worth to be pushed around. "You're right, Cardin!" One of his team members said, "They are real!" he continued, while Cardin was pulling on Velvet's rabbit ears. A lot of people looked towards them both, but knew how much of a brute Cardin is, and wouldn't want to be beaten by him either.

"I'm so tired of people like him!" Blake said, looking furiously at the sight of a fellow faunus being teased. "Well...why don't you stand up for her?" Weiss asked, still trying to get on common ground with Blake after their argument. "Against them four?" Blake replied. "I wouldn't be able to take them all on, as well as it'd just give them another target, especially if they found out that I'm...ya know..." Blake began to whisper so no one could over hear. "a faunus.". "He's even been an issue for Matt." Jason said, making all eyes go to Matt. "Dude! I told you not to say anything!" Matt responded. "But he's right. On the night we went out for the meal, Cardin and I had a little argument. Nothing too much, but he still tries to antagonize me…" now sounding embarrassed. "Guys, I have a great idea! Let's break his legs!" Nora yelled, only for Ren to say "Violence isn't always the answer.".

"You know what, Nora might not be all to wrong about that." Matt said, bringing a smile to Nora. "What if we just confront him. Power in numbers, ya know?". "I'm not sure." Jaune said, "He picks on nearly anyone.". "Well…It's time to stop that." Matt said, sounding angry again, before storming off towards Cardin Winchester and his team.

"Hey!" Matt yelled, getting the attention of Cardin, his team, and Velvet. "Pick on someone your own species.". Cardin, who started to laugh at the thought of a challenge, let go of Velvet's ears, before she ran over to Matt. "Thanks a lot. You really helped me out." She said, sounding extremely grateful. "It's no problem, but now there's gonna be more issues." Matt said back. "Now, get out of here before anything goes pear shaped, got it?" to which she ran off, most likely looking for her team.

"So," Cardin began to say. "What does the amnesia victim want? You want me to try and smash some thoughts back into ya?" He joked, laughing at the thought of harming others. "What's the point on picking on anyone, Cardin?" Matt yelled, getting more angry than earlier. "Does it make you feel like you have a backbone? Because if you keep pissing people off, your backbone's gonna break!" Matt started to threaten Cardin, only getting a laugh in return. "Oh really? I've been fighting with this mace for years, and you've only just made a weapon! You're nothing to people like us!".

At this point professor Ozpin walked through the door, with Velvet beside him, he walked towards to two arguing students. "May I intervene?" Ozpin requested. "What's been going on. Cardin, talk!". "Well you see sir-" he began, only for Matt to interrupt. "He's been picking on students since day one, especially the faunus.". "Matt started to threaten me after me and Velvet were having a conversation.". "Oh don't even start, Cardin!" Matt responded, only for Cardin to respond "So are you saying you didn't threat? Because I have three people right here that heard it!" as he turned around towards his team. Matt, who now spoke to Professor Ozpin, began to say "Yes, I did threat, bu-". "Enough!" Ozpin spoke over everyone now, getting the attention of everyone in the lunchroom. "I will not accept fighting in this school! But," He said with a slight grin. "I do accept duels. How about you both let out your frustrations like that? A good one-on-one?". This got the attention of Cardin. "Yes sir. A duel sounds...great!" Cardin responded, knowing that a lot of people will see him beat down Matt. "Alright, it's settled." Ozpin said, while a joyful tone in his voice. "You both will duel in five days from now. Until then, please be peaceful.". "Yes sir!" Both students responded.

Cardin waited for Ozpin to leave before speaking to Matt again. "So, you wanna make this 'duel' interesting?" Cardin began to ask. "What're you talking about?" Matt responded, still sounding very annoyed. "A wager. Just between us both.". "Okay...I'm listening." Matt said, letting his curiosity get the best of him. "If you win, I don't pick on anyone ever again." Cardin said, feeling pretty confident that he could win the fight. "But what if you win?" Matt asked, leaving a smirk on Cardin's face.

"What're they saying?" Ruby asked "I can't tell. They're being too quiet!" Jason replied. Eventually, Matt and Cardin walked away from each other. Matt started to look confident, but when he knew Cardin couldn't see him, he began to look less confident, and more terrified. "What happened?" Jaune asked as Matt sat down. "I just made a big, big mistake!" Matt said, before holding his head in his hands.


	9. Chapter 9 - Emotions Show True Strength

**Chapter 9 - Emotions Show True Strength**

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked. "What did he say?". "After Ozpin left, Cardin asked if we wanted to bet." Matt began to explain. "In the heat of the moment I just agreed and…" "What did you agree to?" Blake asked. "If I win, he leaves everyone alone. If he wins…" Matt began to say "I have to start picking on Velvet as well.". Blake gasped as she heard this. "She doesn't know that, right?". "No, she moved away before she could hear it." Matt said, sounding disappointed in himself.

"Well, what're you gonna do?" Yang asked. "I-I don't know…" Matt began to break down crying. "Velvet doesn't deserve this, and now, she might hate someone who stood up for her, just because I was too dumb to not even say "no"!" He continued to break down. "Well, why don't you just not lose?" Nora questioned. "I haven't had enough training yet. He's had years of experience, while I've had a week!". Matt responded, knowing he had just ruined any sort of happiness for Velvet.

"Well we have five days. Why not train? It's not gonna do any harm." Jason said, trying to get Matt in high spirits. "I-I guess you're right. I can't afford to lose." Matt said, sounding depressed. "I have to win this, not only for me, or any other people that have to put up with him, but also for all the faunus that have been bullied throughout the years. Jason! I'm gonna need you for training!". Not a proble-" Jason began to respond, before Matt said "For four days…". "Ohh…That's still not too much of a problem. Let's do this.". Jason still said sounding ready for the challenge. "Guys." Matt said, getting the attention of team RWBY and team JNPR. "I'm gonna be busy for a while. Make sure Velvet doesn't find out about the bet. Keep her as happy as possible! I wanna see as many people smiling as I can!". "You can count on us!" Ruby said cheerfully. "I like this new Matt. He knows that people's happiness is important." Yang followed up. "He better not lose…" Blake said, sounding scared for Matt and Velvet.

Five days passed. Matt and Jason were asleep in their rooms after four days of intense training. Jason's alarm went off, waking them both for the big duel. "You ready?" Jason asked, sounding excited. "As ready as I can be!" Matt responded. Moments later, a knock was heard on the door. Whilst Jason went to freshen up for the day. Matt answered, only for Ozpin to appear in the doorway. "So, are you ready for the duel?" Ozpin asked. "I think so, sir!" He replied, sounding positive towards the headmaster. "That's good to hear. Now the fight won't have any rules, just no killing. Got that?" Ozpin said, still standing in the doorway. "I know, sir. I won't do anything like that." Matt responded in a happy tone, knowing that it was still a friendly match. "Good. The fight will be at 2:30pm. Make sure you attend in your regular fighting uniform. A lot of people will attend, including Velvet. I'm sure she'll look forward to the fight. Just remember one thing." Ozpin said, before whispering "Give him hell!".

After that, Jason walked back into the room as Ozpin was leaving. "What was that about?" Jason questioned. "Oh nothin'." Matt responded. "I just know someone has faith in me.". "We all do!" Matt and Jason heard around the corner, before team RWBY walked in. "You're gonna do great!" Weiss exclaimed. "I'm sure I will. For now, you guys feel like walking around for awhile?" Matt asked. "I need to kill these nerves before the fight. It'll be the first real fight I've gotten into since attending here…"

A few hours passed, and the time finally arrived. Team RWBY, team JNPR and Jason was sat in the seats of the training room arena. The majority of the seats were took up by other students, all excited to view the match between the bully, and the newbie. As the room began to quiet down, Professor Port walked onto the arena. "Ladies and gentleman, hunters and huntresses in training. This is a match we've all been waiting for. A match that will definitely be told in the ages. It reminds of the time I took on an alpha Beowolf with my bare ha-". "Get on with the match!" an unknown voice yelled. "Hmm, very well." Professor Port continued. "Ladies and gentleman, welcome team CRDL's Cardin Winchester!" As he entered the stage, he got a few boos, but you couldn't hear them from the cheering of the rest of his team. "And now, welcome the newcomer, team MJ's Matthew Diack!". At first, no cheers were heard, apart from those coming from team RWBY, team JNPR, Jason, and Velvet. Cardin's team was booing, but no one else joined them. Jason started to hear "Who is that guy?" followed by other people questioning who Matt was. Professor Port walked off, and all of a sudden all the room could hear was "3!". Then "2!" and finally "1!". "I guess this is it!" Matt thought to himself, before hearing "BEGIN!"

"Hey, Jason?" Ruby yelled. "Yea? What's up?" He replied. "Do you know what Matt's weapon is?" Ruby asked. "Oh, you'll find out soon enough!" Jason responded sounding proud. This made Ruby squeal with excitement. "Oh, I can't wait!" before she began to hear the announcer say "3! 2! 1! BEGIN!"

Both Cardin and Matt started to ready their weapons. Cardin grabbed his mace, and waited for Matt to reveal his weapons. Matt began to roll up his sleeves, revealing two large, and odd pieces of metal around his wrists. Matt forced his arms diagonally downwards, activating the weapon of his choice. As the metal adjusted, the top parts of his hands and his arm, up to his elbows, started getting covered in a slightly thick layer of purple and black. The metal carried eight dust crystal shells on each arm, containing fire dust crystals going down from his elbow to his wrists, where the dust would be fired once loaded. Where the crystals would be loaded, the weapon revealed to be slightly bigger, making Cardin wonder if Matt had anything else up his sleeve.

"Wait. So...he took the idea of my gauntlets?" Yang said, sounding proud. "Yes, but he has a slight twist on them, which he has been working on for a long, long time." Jason responded waiting for the two to start fighting. "Ohthatlookstotallyawsome! Thismatchisgonnabegreat!" Just as Ruby stopped talking, Matt and Cardin both charged at each other, making the stage fill up with excitement at who will attack first.

Matt ran directly at Cardin, and waiting for him to swing. As he did, Matt slid underneath Cardin, punching him directly in the gut, while also firing off one of his dust crystals. "Damn, you can pack a punch!" Cardin said, before grabbing Matt's wrist before continuing. "But not as much as me!". Cardin slammed his mace directly into Matt's chest, immediately sending him into the air and landing hard on the ground. Cardin followed this up by slamming his mace directly on the ground where Matt was, only for the mace to not reach Matt. The mace had been stopped by what seemed like a kite shield. "So that's what you had planned?" Cardin questioned while Matt gave a little smirk. He retracted the shield back into the slot where he would load dust crystals. The fight continued for two minutes straight, but instead of trading equal blows, Cardin was attacking more, while Matt was blocking more.

"You can't block forever!" Cardin yelled as he swung again. "Well you can't act like a jerk to people forever!" Matt responded. "Your actions have consequences!" At this point, Cardin kept on smashing on both of Matt's shields. Matt eventually gave way, knowing that he couldn't continue like this. Cardin started throwing Matt around like a ragdoll, forcing him to take the beatings. "You wanna know something that's great, Matty boy?" Cardin began to say. "After this, Velvet will probably not trust another human again. You just ruined someone's trust because you wanted to act better than me. How does that feel?" Cardin asked, only for Matt to respond with "S-Shut up!" "Wrong answer, Cardin smirked, before hitting him again. "Oh, me and you are gonna get along tormenting Velvet every single day. Doesn't that sound fun?" "Y-y-you won't hurt her, o-or anyone, ever a-a-again." Matt responded, sounding exhausted. "Like hell I won't." Cardin said. " Velvet is just some useless faunus. She's useless and needed by nobody. She is nothing. And soon, neither will you." Matt began to mumble something under his breath. "What did you say?" Cardin questioned, before picking Matt up off the ground. "I said," Matt responded. "Faunus are better than you in every way. You're just a bully, while a lot of the faunus have been victims to people like you. You are the worst kind of animal around!". "All faunus are disgusting!" Cardin yelled. "Velvet, is disgusting. She's a dirty animal, worth no one's time!". "SAY THAT AGAIN!" Matt yelled as hatred filled his lungs. Cardin repeated. "Velvet. Is. A. Dirty. Disgusting. Piece. Of. Trash.".

As Cardin said this, Matt began to shake uncontrollably, forcing Cardin to drop Matt to the ground. As Jason, team RWBY, and team JNPR looked closer, they noticed something was happening to Matt. His hair was changing again! Now, all of his hair was glowing a bright purple. Matt stood up in ease, and turned around towards Cardin. Matt started laughing maniacally before his face immediately turned serious. He then yelled. "THAT'S ENOUGH!" before lunging towards Cardin. Cardin expected to dodge the attack, but this time, Matt had got to him faster than ever before. "YOU CAN'T RUN THAT QUICK!" Matt yelled as his fist smashed directly against Cardin's face, creating an uproar from everyone viewing the match.

Cardin got back up and attacked, only to be slammed against the ground again. "W-what's happened to you!?" Cardin yelled, actually starting to fear for his life. "WHAT'S HAPPENED TO ME!?" Matt questioned, as he readied his weapons to start another onslaught. With every word, Matt hit over and over again. "YOU! ARE! NOTHING! YOU! ARE! WORTHLESS! I! WILL! PROTECT! VELVET!" Matt roared at the top of his lungs. It wasn't until now that Cardin checked both his and Matt's aura, only to see Matt's 1/3rd of the way, while his was on the border of losing the match, and then he finally realised something. Cardin couldn't win. Even since Matt began going bezerk, he hadn't used one of his fire dust crystal blasts, meaning that he wasn't even fighting seriously. With a huge thrust, Matt launched himself into the air and began to fire his gauntlets in a spiral, gaining momentum with each blast. Matt gave one last burst, and then began to drop, still spinning at tremendous speed directly towards Cardin. As Matt finally made contact with Cardin's chest, Cardin was launched across the arena, slamming him against a wall, and then dropping him to the ground, depleting all of his aura.

Matt could hear the cheering of everyone. Team RWBY, team JNPR, Jason, and Velvet. Then, Matt saw something. He saw Velvet looking oddly at him. Through all the cheering, he couldn't hear her, but then realised, everyone had stopped cheering. Everyone was instead looking the same way Velvet did. They were looking at him with concern. Jason yelled "Dude! Are you alright?" towards Matt, and before he could reply, Matt hit the ground,, leaving everyone in shock and fear. "Get him to the medical bay, now!" Jason heard Professor Ozpin yell. "What happened?" Jaune asked Ozpin. "That doesn't matter! The doctors will take him to the medical bay. He'll be fine. Until then, all of you head back to RWBY's room. I'll meet with you in 30 minutes." Ozpin said, before leaving, following in the same direction as Matt's unconscious body.


	10. Chapter 10 - Understanding the Burden

**Chapter 10 - Understanding the Burden**

Team RWBY, team JNPR, and Jason waited in RWBY's room, waiting for Ozpin to appear. "Jason, what was that?" Blake asked, looking like she had just seen the apocalypse. "I wish I could tell you, I really do. But I've never seen that side of him before.". Just as Jason finished answering, a knock on the door was heard. "That must be Professor Ozpin!" Yang said, but as she opened the door, she saw Velvet looking like she was about to cry.

"Velvet?" Yang asked, before the faunus girl immediately yelled towards Jason "What happened to him? Before, he was so kind, but now, it looks like he's some kind of monster!". "Hey!" Ruby responded. "That's still Matt!". "I know, I'm sorry." Velvet apologized, "It's just been so long since someone stood up for me, and when they do, they go crazy over it. He even said that he "must protect me"!". "We know, Velvet. Something seemed very off, and we'll figure it out. Why don't you stay with us until the professor gets here so we can figure out what happened to him?". And so Velvet stayed and waited for Professor Ozpin, who was now waiting for Matt to wake up.

Matt slowly began to open his eyes, only to see Professor Ozpin waiting by his side. "W-what happened?" Matt asked, only for Ozpin to ask him the same question. "The last I remember, Cardin started saying stuff about Velvet. He called her disgusting things. Then, I began to feel extremely angry. After that, all I remember is waking up here." Matt began to look worried, "Is everyone fine, what happened to Cardin?". "Cardin is in a medical bay away from you." Ozpin assured Matt, "While you were passed out, you kept on yelling his name and flailing around, making us think you were going to try and attack him again. I sent team RWBY, team JNPR, and Jason to team RWBY's room. For now, the doctors are going to do some tests on you. Your team will see you tomorrow.". "Alright." Matt responded. "Thanks Professor.". "Just doing my job." Professor Ozpin said, while leaving the room to go and find team RWBY's room.

A whole day had past, and Matt was still in the medical bay. He was feeling much better, his hair was now back to normal, but he was just waiting to get his results back from the test. Suddenly the door opened, revealing Yang that was sneaking in. "Damn. You gave Cardin some tough hits." Yang said, giving Matt a little smile. "I tried my best." Matt said, giving off a little laugh. "Do you know what happened yet?" Yang questioned, only for Matt to shake his head. "Not yet. The tests should be getting back anytime soon though. You do realise you're not allowed to be in here, right?" Matt asked Yang. "Ohh, well when you hang around Blake, you kinda learn how to sneak around." making Matt laugh, but still worry for Yang in case she got caught. Yang and Matt both continued to talk for a solid fifteen minutes, before the door opened. "Excuse me, miss!" A doctor yelled. "You're not supposed to be in here!". "No, it's fine." A voice came from around the corner, only for Professor Ozpin to appear. "She has special access.". "Oh, my apologies. These are the results." The doctor said, before handing them to Matt. "Thanks Professor. You really saved me." Yang said, before being interrupted. "Not a problem. You were clearly worried about your friend, that's all. So, what does it say?" Ozpin asked as Matt looked at the letter.

As Matt opened the letter, his eyes couldn't believe what it was telling him. He was told that his semblance was activated through anger. It has three stages. Stage one increases strength, speed, and durability minorly for 1-2 minutes. Stage two increases strength, speed and durability significantly for 3-5 minutes. And stage three increases strength, speed and durability majorly for up to 7 minutes. However, it also told him that whenever he used his semblance in the third stage, he would become crazy in anger, doing whatever it would take to harm that which had angered him. It also told him that the reason he passed out was because he had used stage three immediately after unlocking his semblance, meaning his life, at the time, was in danger.

Matt told this to Yang which brought a smile to her face. "So you're fine! Oh I'm so happy!" She said while hugging Matt. "There's one more thing, Yang." Matt said, staring at the smile on Yang's face. "With each stage, my hair becomes more purple. After one week, it will become a new stage. It's almost like it's charging. However, with every stage, I become angry constantly. I don't have a choice in the matter." Matt said, now crying. "I'm gonna be living my life in stages two and three in pure anger.".

Yang, who was now comforting Matt by hugging him told him "Well I know that it's not really you. So the other week when you snapped about nothing, it wasn't you. When you fought, you fought for equality. This means that you're always gonna try to help, no matter how angry you are. And besides, if you ever wanna blow off some steam, you can go to the training room, or... I know an amazing massage that I can give you…" causing both to laugh. "Thanks Yang." Matt said smiling, delighted with having a friend that looks out for him. "How about we go and find everyone else, and fill them in?" Yang suggested, while Matt looked at her, took in a deep breath and said "Yang. I…I...I think I…" Yang's eyes began to grow wide, thinking that Matt was about to confess something huge. "Yang." Matt continued. "I think I was gonna have to explain that to everyone anyway, considering they saw what happened!". Matt then gave Yang a devilish smile, before she said, "You little tease!" as both of them broke down in laughter.

Matt eventually left the medical bay, and met up with everyone, including Velvet. Matt and Yang described what his semblance was and how it worked. Everyone congratulated Matt on unlocking his semblance, even Velvet, despite seeing exactly what it had caused.

Eventually, only Matt and Velvet were left alone to talk while everyone left to get some food. "Velvet?" Matt said, causing Velvet to jump out of her skin after realising she was staring up at the sky, looking at the stars. "Oh sorry. Just daydreaming." Velvet replied, acting nervous. "You know," Matt began to say. "It's getting pretty late. You want me to walk you back to your room?". Velvet gave a slight blush before agreeing with Matt's idea. The entire time walking towards Velvet's room, the pair had both shared laughs and were talking about anything they could think of. Eventually, she reached her room, and they both said their goodbyes. Once Velvet walked into the room, she was confronted by her teammate and team leader Coco. "So...you and loverboy, huh? I can dig that." Coco said, before Velvet said, "Ohh shut up!" and buried her face into her pillows before lifting her head out and saying "I wish.". But unknown to her, was Matt who was sat at the other side of the door, listening to Velvet, before standing up and walking back to his room, with a smile on his face.


	11. Chapter 11 - Food Fight Fanatics

**Chapter 11 - Food Fight Fanatics**

Jason and Matt woke up the following day feeling refreshed. Matt, who had remembered last night and how he overheard the chat between Velvet and Coco, brought a smile to his face as he began to start his day. "Did something happen last night?" said Jason out of curiosity, "Nah, nothing happened last night…" responded Matt, carrying on his grin. Today was the last day before lessons started again, meaning that they both wanted to do as much as they could before they fell back into the routine of classes. They both woke up late that day, understandable for Matt considering what had happened a few days before. They both got prepared, and started to make their way towards the food hall.

As they made their way down, Matt got stares from people. At first, he thought that people just happened to be looking near him, but eventually everyone in sight was looking at him. "Just ignore them, man." Jason said, giving Matt some support. "Everyone knows that you did what you did for Velvet." "T-they do!?" Matt responded. "How!?". "Well you couldn't have yelled it any louder" Jason said, while pulling out his scroll to show a video of the previous fight. "Oh, I thought you meant...never mind." Matt said, beginning to blush a little. "Let's just get to the food hall before Nora eats everything!" as Matt and Jason began to jog towards the food hall.

Once they got their, they noticed people were running out of the room. The first people they noticed was Sun and some guy with him with blue hair, and some sort of uniform on. "Oh, hey Sun. What brings you around?" Jason asked. "Oh I'm just showing my friend Neptune around. And so far, I'm sure team RWBY and team JNPR have made a great impression!". Jason and Matt looked up and saw Nora at the top of a pile of tables and chairs while simultaneously chanting "I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!". "Justice will be swift!" Matt, Jason, Sun and Neptune began to hear Ruby. "Justice will be painful! It will be delicious!" She yelled as Nora ordered "Off with their head!"

Ren began the assault and kicked three melons directly at the girls as Jaune launched one more. Pyrrha sent out another two and Nora launched half a dozen to the mix. "Yang! Turkey!" Ruby pointed out as Yang ran, and equipped two turkeys to her fists acting like her gauntlets. She started punching melons in mid air, giving Blake enough time to pick up her food of choice, being two baguettes. The two began smashing the melons which left Jaune wide open, giving Yang enough time to launch her turkeys at Jaune, sending him crashing against a pillar.

Pyrrha responded by attacking Blake with a singular baguette. The two clashed for a couple of seconds, until Pyrrha stepped back, slashing towards Blake. Blake jumped into the air landing behind Pyrrha, attacking her the moment she landed. The two continued to dodge attacks until Blake leaped into the air before throwing one of her baguettes towards Pyrrha. This left Blake off balance, so Pyrrha struck Blake, sending her flying backwards and releasing her second baguette. Pyrrha now grabbed the second baguette, and launched both of them towards Yang. Yang broke both baguettes, but didn't see the third one Pyrrha threw, knocking her down.

At this point, Ruby began skating on a food tray before launching herself into the sky, knocking another one of Pyrrha's baguettes back to Pyrrha with the tray, before landing and continuing skating. Ruby landed directly on Pyrrha and launched herself, sending Pyrrha to the ground. Ren started to run towards Ruby until Weiss ran in front, blasting some sauce on the floor causing Ren to slip and slide directly into some tables, launching them in the air.

Nora began to jump from table to table in mid air. As Nora took one final jump, she grabbed onto a metal pole, ripping it of it's post, before sticking it in a melon, about to smash it against Weiss. Ruby jumped in the way, taking the hit for her white-haired friend. Weiss grabbed a sword fish, and sliced towards Nora. Nora endured the hit, and retaliated, spinning her melon-hammer, stopping any attack from the Ice Queen before hitting her directly, smashing her across the room into a pillar, breaking it.

Ruby saw the pillar about to land on Weiss, so using her semblance, she rushed over and picked her up, then over-dramatically said to her unconscious friend "Weiss! Don't leave me!" and then yelled "NOOOO!". While this was happening, Yang ran past both of them picking up two more turkeys, and started heading towards Ren.

Ren expected this, and picked up two leeks, before charging at Yang. Both of them clashed, and at first, it seemed pretty even. Then Yang began to get the upper hand, getting a few simple attack off just to stun Ren, she knocked him off balance before uppercutting him, sending him into the sky. Using this opportunity, Ren launched the leeks at Yang, but she quickly reacted, dodging them both, and launched herself to the same level as Ren, before hitting him with a powerful right hook to the head, sending him directly to the ground, smashing everything around him.

Yang was immediately under threat again being attacked by Nora. She did all she could to avoid her attacks. Yang tried to attempt another clash, but Nora was too fast, and hit Yang directly into the air, throwing her through the roof, leaving a hole where Yang hit. Blake dodged out of the way from the rubble of the roof, backflipping and grabbing a string of sausages, and started swinging them about like a whip. Blake then hit Nora into multiple drink machines, forcing a lot of cans to be released from the machines.

Nora got right back up, and grabbed some cans. With them being shook up, she threw one at Blake, hitting her directly. As Blake began to run from the can-grenades, she didn't notice Pyrrha using her semblance to take control of the cans using her polearity, and sending them all at Blake, creating multiple explosions before launching her into a wall, still with the cans hitting her. After Blake was released, she smashed loudly on the ground behind Ruby.

Ruby, now looking up towards team JNPR, got herself in a running position, and ran. Using her semblance of speed, she moved with all her might, forcing everything in the room to be forced at team JNPR. Ruby moved so fast, it was difficult to see her. She ran past all of team JNPR, and the gusts of wind behind her picked up team JNPR. Ruby stopped last second, leaving cracks against the wall, and ran out of the way, keeping herself from and of the attacks. The air, now keeping team JNPR against the wall, began picking up everything in the room! Tables, chairs, food, cans, everything was being slammed against team JNPR. After a few seconds, JNPR had finally been defeated from the onslaught and being covered in food and grape soda. Ruby had also left what looked like Ruby's emblem on the wall, in the colour of food and grape soda. "I love these guys!" Sun said, before looking over to see Matt and Neptune covered in wasted food. Matt looked at Jason before saying "How are you not covered in food!" to which Jason only shrugged. Miss Goodwitch then charged into the room, using her semblance to put everything back to normal. "Students, please!" Miss Goodwitch began, "Don't play with your food." She said calmly, before Yang fell back into the room, leaving another hole. Matt, Jason, Sun and Neptune now ran over to team RWBY and JNPR, telling them how awesome the foodfight looked.


	12. Chapter 12 - Progressive Friendships

**Chapter 12 - Progressive Friendships**

The next day felt the same as the first semester, apart from students that had arrived from Atlas started to roam Beacon. Even classes were the same. Team MJ, team RWBY, and team JNPR were attending Professor Port's class, and while the professor was distracted telling another one of his stories, Jaune decided to slide over to Weiss, and started a conversation. "Is he ever gonna learn?" Matt asked towards Jason, until he replied "Love is in the air.". "Speaking of love-" Matt cut himself off, not wanting to say anymore. "What was that?" Jason asked, just for Matt to quickly respond "Oh-uh, nothin'. Just talking to myself." giving a nervous laugh. "Sure…" Jason responded as the bell rang, signalling the end of lesson. "And then I-" Professor Port had to end his sentence early "Oh, I guess I timed that wrong. Well, the stunning conclusion will have to wait until next time.". As everyone was leaving, team RWBY walked past Jaune, who looked defeated as Weiss walked away from him. "One day…" Yang told Jaune, while patting him on the shoulder.

Once everyone had left their last lesson of the day, team RWBY was walking towards their dorm before they were stopped by team MJ. "Hey ladies. What're you up to?" Jason asked, with a big smile on his face. "Oh ya know…" Ruby began, sounding nervous. "Just some...after school work.". "Mind if I tag along?" Jason asked. "Sorry, but it's a team thing." Weiss responded coldly, before turning around and walking towards her room with Yang and Blake. "Sorry guys, we're just really busy…" Ruby said, trying to clear the air and sounding genuinely sorry that neither of them could tag along. "It's not an issue. Have fun." Jason said, before Ruby started to head back as well.

"What're you up to?" Jason asked Matt. "Oh, just about to meet up with someone." Matt responded. "You're busy too? Damn." Jason answered, sounding a little upset. "Not an issue!" He continued, sounding more positive now. "I'll just go to the training room. See you later." Jason walked off, as Matt made his way towards the communication tower, and sat outside.

As Matt waited, he was startled by a soft, and familiar voice. "Well, well, well. It's been some time, hasn't it?". Matt turned around to see Coco taking off her sunglasses. "Oh, uh. Hey Coco." Matt responded. "I wasn't expecting to see you here.". "I know why you're here, and she will show. She just wanted to make sure you were going to show up first." Coco assured Matt, giving him a sigh of relief. "In fact," Coco continued, "she's here right now!". Coco moved out of the way, and Velvet walked out from behind her, walking up to Matt, giving him a hug. "It really has been a while." Matt said, while hugging back.

Matt now looked over Velvets shoulder, and noticed both Ruby and Weiss walking towards the tower in clothes he had never seen them wear before. Ruby got stopped by a girl that looked like Penny, who then ran off, while Ruby chased after. Weiss noticed that Matt saw them and made her way towards them. Velvet, who had just stopped hugging Matt now noticed Weiss was next to them. "Not a word!" Both Velvet and Weiss said. "That outfit is...new." Matt said, not knowing how to respond after getting caught with Velvet. "You don't tell anyone about me going to the communication tower, and I won't tell anyone whatever...this is." Weiss said, with Velvet quickly agreeing before she replied. "We're not together. Just...talking about things.". "Sure. Just don't say anything, are we clear?" Weiss said, only for Matt and Velvet to respond "Crystal!".

Later that night, Jason was in his room, fiddling with his scroll trying to get a new feature to work. "What're you working on?" Matt asked, making Jason startle. "How long have you been in here?" Jason questioned only for Matt to respond "About half an hour. So, what're you doing?". Jason turned around and said "I've been messing around with the radio on my scroll. I'm thinking that I could change the signal so I could pick up any radio chatter. This means that I can find out what the White Fang are up to, and stop them before they even have a chance.". As they were talking they began to hear chatter from the scroll.

"Everyone! If you can hear me we need-" it was cut off by another person screaming "HELP!". "That sounds like Blake and Sun!" Matt said, still listening to the scroll. "They got a robot, and it's really, really big!". "Did...he just say robot?" Jason asked. Sun continued to speak "That Torchwick guy is in it! But not like..., it didn't eat him, he's like, controlling it or something!". "Where are you guys?" Jason yelled down the scroll. "Jason? How are you contacting us?" Yang questioned, interrupting the conversation. "Never mind that!" Matt said. "Where are you?". "In the city!" Blake finally said, "Just go near the motorway, I'm sure you'll see us!". "On our way!" Jason and Matt said in unison, before charging out of the room and down into Vale.


	13. Chapter 13 - Unity Prevails

**Chapter 13 - Unity Prevails**

Matt and Jason had just got to motorway, and saw a pile up of cars. "Well," Matt began, "I think I know which way they went." Jason yelled, thinking about how much trouble team RWBY could be in, "Well we have no time to waste. Let's go!" as they continued to follow the pile up of cars.

As Matt and Jason got closer to more cars, they noticed that part of the barrier was down. The barrier is normally very tough to knock down, so considering that the barrier had fallen, something big had to have fallen through. "You think that's them?" Jason asked. "Well trouble seems to follow them, so I'd bet that they caused it.". "Oh great! So now you're gambling?" Jason joked. "Is that what you were doing earlier?" He continued to joke. "W-what?" Matt stuttered. "That's none of your business! Now come on! I can hear yelling!".

Jason and Matt then looked down below and saw none other than team RWBY, confronting a giant robot. "That...is something new!" Jason exclaimed, looking at the size of the mech. Matt jumped down and landed behind the girls. "Damn. That's hard on the knees." Matt said, holding his legs. "How're you girls doing?" Matt said, acting like his legs aren't hurting. "Just on time!" Yang said. "Wait. Where's Jason?" Blake asked only for an arrow to strike down on the mech. "Up here!". Everyone looked up to a building and saw Jason, holding a bow, aiming at the mech.

The bow string was a neon radiant blue and was connected by two circular idle wheels on top and bottom of the bow in which the bow itself had a unique design. The front part of the bow was a completely curved inward sharp edge whilst the back of the bow was able to highlight the colour of a certain type of dust and the entire grip was covered in bandages. Jason jumped down from above, to only have the bow detached in midair to create dual wield swords. The two swords were symmetrical and both covered in black. It also had lined patterns of neon blue down the sides of the swords.

"So, how's your evening going?" Jason asked. "Eventful…" Blake replied. "Enough chatter!" Roman's voice came from inside the mech. "Alrighty then. Let's do this!" Matt yelled, which was immediately followed up by Ruby yelling "Freezerburn!". Everyone leaped backwards, giving Weiss enough time to use an ice dust crystal, leaving ice all over the ground. Yang then launched in the air, and landed fist first into the center of the ice. Everything went into a cloud of mist. Matt and Jason went in the same direction, getting ready for an opportunity to attack. The mech activated sensors to try and look for any signs of life, but everyone was already hiding behind some pillars.

Blake took off, leaving ice where she ran. Jason took this opportunity to fire another arrow into the back of the mech, leaving Roman confused as to where the next attack will be. Yang joined Blake in the movements, only for them both to be hit by a blast from the mech, hurdling them both through the air. Ruby charged into the mech using full force, and sliced with Crescent Rose. "Checkmate!" Ruby ordered, and without hesitation, Weiss and Blake began a barrage of attacks, leaving Roman wide open for Weiss to disable one of the turrets. Blake, who was still attacking the legs, got caught off guard, and would have been crushed if Weiss didn't use her glyph to move Blake out of the way. Roman then released multiple missiles at both girls, one eventually hitting Weiss, knocking her back into the air, giving her enough time to use a special kind of glyph which powered up Blake.

Multiple missiles were fired again, only for Blake to begin slicing in the air, creating an aftershock effect, destroying the missiles before they even got close. "Ladybug!" Ruby yelled once again. Blake and Ruby began to attack at the legs, using their speed to stop them from getting hit back. Both dove into the air, slicing at the same time, cutting of the right arms cannon.

"Violet cheese!" Matt yelled, only for everyone to turn around and look strangely at him. "What? Alright fine I need to work on my attack names. Yang, just punch it with me…" and with that, they both started pummeling it. Yang was holding onto the back while Matt was hitting the front, constantly leaving dents in the mech. Eventually Matt was shook off, throwing him onto the ground. Yang was rammed into two pillars, breaking the first one, and making the second one crumble. She began to fall, only for Roman to attack again, smashing her through the second pillar.

"Yang!" Matt yelled in concern as he started to run over. "Don't!" Ruby yelled. "She's fine. With each hit she gets stronger, and uses that energy to fight back! That's what makes her special.". The mech began to walk slowly towards Yang, and prepared another attack. "Well she better 'special' it up real fast!" Matt yelled as the robot began to swing its arm towards Yang for a devastating blow. The arm hit Yang directly, but she refused to budge. Instead she looked up, with fire-red eyes instead of her lilac coloured ones, and hit the mech back, completely shattering the other arm.

Yang was then kicked by the mech sending her directly back into Matt, who had brought his shields up just in time. "Bumblebee!" Ruby yelled, and Blake launched Gambol Shroud towards Yang, who had just landed on Matt's shields. Matt pushed with all of his might, and sent Yang in a circle with the help of blasting her gauntlets. Blake kept on swinging, making Yang go faster and faster with each passing second. "We have to slow it down!" Ruby yelled, as Yang barely missed the mech. "And how do you propose we do that?" Weiss questioned. "Ice flower!" Ruby replied, making Weiss create a glyph which would enchant all of Ruby's shots to create an ice effect. Jason stood behind both of them and started using dust crystal arrow attacks for freezing support.

The mech started to get pushed back with each shot, making it move slower with the more ice it had on. Matt stood with Blake, and watched the magic happen as she swung Yang directly into the mech, completely breaking it leaving Roman totally exposed. "Just got this thing cleaned!" Roman complained. Yang fired one more shot, only for a girl with pink and brown hair to deflect it with an umbrella. "Is that an umbrella?" Matt asked, looking around only for everyone to agree that he wasn't going crazy. "Ladies. Gentleman. Ice Queen." Roman said, which brought a reaction from Weiss. "Hey!" Weiss said, sounding like the words themselves caused more damage than the actual fight. "Always a pleasure." Roman continued, before waving goodbye. "Neo, if you would?". The short girl gave a bow, and Yang saw an opportunity. She charged in, hitting as hard as she could, only for them both the break into glass. In the distance, noises of a Bullhead could be heard, leaving everyone to look into the sky as Roman and Neo were waving.

"So I guess he got a new henchman…" Yang said, sounding disappointed that they couldn't stop either of them. "Yeah," Weiss said, before getting a smile on her face, "I guess she made our plans...fall apart." before looking around to see the dissatisfied faces of everyone around. "No. Just no." Jason said, before walking away with Blake. "What?" Weiss asked, "But you do it?". Matt began to say "There's a time and a place for jokes.". "Was this not it?" Weiss said sounding unhappy. "No, it just wasn't very good." Yang said, catching up with Blake and Jason. "Well at least I'm trying!" Weiss said, trying to sound positive.

"Wait, before all of us head back, we need to talk about one thing!" Matt yelled, calling after Yang, Blake and Jason. "Yeah." Jason replied, which was followed up by Jason saying "We can't just see all of this and act like nothing's happening!". "Alright, fine!" Ruby responded. "We're trying to take down the White Fang, but we don't wanna get friends involved.", "But that's the best part!" Matt responded, giving a grin, "And besides, who knows what would've happened if we weren't here.". "I'm sure we would've been just fine!" Weiss said. "Yeah, well that's not the point." Jason responded. "If you're taking down the White Fang, we want in!" Matt said. "Come on, we're friends! We're meant to have each other's backs, aren't we?". "Alright fine!" Blake finally said, "Now come on, we need to head back before people notice we're missing." As the group started heading back, Weiss grabbed Matt by his collar. "Hello, 'Ice Queen'." Matt said before chuckling. "Not you too…" Weiss said. "Listen, don't say a word about this to anyone.". She then looked at into Matt's eyes. "Especially Velvet, are we clear?" only for Matt to respond with "Crystal.".


	14. Chapter 14 - Go Back to Move Forwards

**Chapter 14 - One Step Back, Two Steps Forward**

"That. Was. Awesome!" Matt yelled down towards Pyrrha, who had just took down all of team CRDL. "Alright," Miss Goodwitch began to say, "now I know that's a tough act to follow, but we have time for one more sparring match. Any volunteers?" Glynda asked, only for her to look around, realising no one wished to have a fight. "Miss Belladonna?" Glynda said, getting the attention of Blake, who was reading a book. "You've been rather docile for the past few classes. Why don't you-" Miss Goodwitch was cut of by a man with grey hair. "I'll do it.". "Mercury is it?" Glynda continued. "Very well. Let's find you an opponent.". Mercury then requested that he would like to fight Pyrrha, only for Glynda to inform him that she couldn't because of the recent match. "No, it's fine." Pyrrha responded. "I'd be happy to oblige!".

Mercury and Pyrrha both got into fighting stances, and Mercury immediately set off, attempting to kick at Pyrrha. She blocked it, and struck at his other leg, knocking him off balance and onto the floor. He quickly recovered only for Pyrrha to charge quickly. Pyrrha blocked two counter-attacks from Mercury, and blocked another two after one of her own attacks were blocked. She then rammed him with her shield, forcing him backwards. Mercury, then went for a kickflip followed by a barrage of kicks. Pyrrha retreated knowing she couldn't block all the attacks. Mercury kept on charging, this time kicking three times in one spot. Pyrrha changed stances mid attack, and blocked Mercury again. Mercury followed up the attacks, knocking her spear out of her hand. Mercury attempted another attack, only for him to miss knocking him off balance. Pyrrha took the opportunity to pick up her spear, and charge at her target. Mercury now bounced of the shield, and used his boots to blast himself away.

Pyrrha charged again, only for Mercury to say "I forfeit.". This caused Pyrrha to stop herself, still shocked that someone would stop in the middle of a battle. "You don't even want to try?" Pyrrha asked. "What's the point?" Mercury responded, "You're a world renowned fighter, we're obviously leagues apart.". "In that case, Pyrrha Nikos is the victor of the match, again." Glynda began to say, before continuing "Next time you may want to think a little harder before choosing your opponent.". "I'll be sure to do that." Mercury replied. "That is all for today." Glynda said, waking Blake up. "And remember, the dance is this weekend, but you all have your first mission this Monday. No excuses."

"I'm just saying that it's kind of weird for a guy to call of a match, despite asking for one." Jason said, before Sun ran over to the group. "Hey Blake! You, uh, doing okay?" Sun asked, sounding concerned. "I'm fine." Blake replied. Sun cleared his throat and said "So I hear there's this dance going on this weekend. Sounds pretty lame but, you and me I'm thinkin' not as lame, huh?". "What?" Blake asked. "The dance, this weekend! You wanna go or what?" Sun continued. "I don't have time for a stupid dance. You of all people should know that." Blake said before storming off. Sun began to look down. "Don't worry man. We're all still gonna have a good time!" Matt said, with a smile on his face.

"You what!?" Blake questioned. "We want you to go to the dance." Ruby repeated. "That's ridiculous." Blake said. "Blake, we're worried about you." Jason said, which Yang followed up. "This investigation is getting to your head!". "You can't sleep, you hardly eat, and to be honest, your grades have been suffering." Weiss spoke up. "You think I care about grades!?" Blake snapped, "People's lives are at stake!". "We know," Matt replied. "And we're all trying to find out what Torchwick is up to.". Ruby looked at Blake, "Thanks to you and Sun, we know they're operating somewhere out of Southeast Vale.". "And," Weiss followed up, "the Schnee company records singled out Vale as the primary target for Dust robberies over the last few months.". "Don't forget about their missing military tech too…" both Matt and Yang said in unison while smirking.

"But there's still unanswered questions!" Blake tried to argue. "You won't be able to find anything if you can't keep your eyes open." Ruby responded. "All we're asking is you take it easy for one day." Yang said. "It'll be fun, Yang and I will make sure of it!" Weiss said while smiling. "Yeah!" Yang said excitedly. "We're planning the whole event.". "Excuse me?" Blake questioned. "Team CFVY's away mission lasted longer than expected." Weiss responded. Yang continued, "So Weiss and I are gonna pick up where they left off. And now, we can make sure you have a perfect night!", "And once it's over, we'll return to our search, rested and ready.". "So, what do you think?" Jason asked. "I think this is a colossal waste of time. I'll be in the library." Blake stated, before she left. "She can't keep going like this…" Jason said, sighing.

Suddenly. knocks were heard at the door. Weiss answered, only for Jaune to appear, holding a guitar. "Weeeiiisssss." Jaune began to sing, only for Weiss to slam the door in his face. "Oh come one." Jaune said. "Open the door. I promise not to sing…". Weiss opened the door, and Jaune immediately sang "I liiieeed. Weiss Schnee, will you accompany me, to the dance on...Sunday?". "Are you done?" Weiss asked. "Yes…" Jaune replied sheepishly. "No." Weiss blankly said before slamming the door. "And that's why they call you the Ice Queen." Matt said, grinning at her new nickname. "All my life boys have only ever cared about the perks of my last name. Besides, I already have a date in mind." Weiss said, giving a little smile.

"What about you Matt?" Yang asked. "Do you have a date?". Matt replied "I would, but I haven't seen her around recently…". "That's a shame…" Yang said, with a devilish smirk. "If she's a no show, I'll be sure to give you a dance.". "Uh- you, uh don't have to do that Yang, but thanks for the offer." Matt replied, trying to hide a blush. "Okaaaaay…" Yang continued, "but the offer is always there.". Ruby interrupted both of them, "Date or no date, none of this will matter if we can't get Blake to go…" Ruby said, looking gloomy.


	15. Chapter 15 - Luxuries and Necessities

**Chapter 15 - Luxuries and Necessities**

As team RWBY and team MJ help setting up for prom night, Ruby and Jason was sat on a table together, both looking depressed on the fact that Blake is not coming to the dance tonight. "I need you two to pick a tablecloth." commandingly said Weiss, whilst sliding two tablecloths that appear to be the same. With Jason and Ruby looking at the tablecloths then at each other and finally at Weiss, "Aren't they both the same?" both gave the same answer in sync. "I don't even know why I bother with you two!" fumingly responded by Weiss. Earthquakes was made from the sound of Matt and Yang, planting large speakers near the stage afterwards, they both confronted Ruby and Jason. "Have you got a dress yet, Jason?" Matt asked, smirking at what he had just said. "Yeahhhhhhhh…" uttered Jason, still looking gloomy as ever. "What About you sis, have you picked out a dress yet?" Yang asked Ruby. "What's the point?. Who cares about the dance if Blake isn't going?" Ruby mentioned followed by Jason, "She's right, we can't have fun without all of us, Blake is still our friend…". "Don't worry, she's going." Yang casually said.

"Weiss!, I thought we agreed!, No doilies!" Yang shouted, Weiss then strolled towards Yang and countered her argument, "If I don't get doilies, then you don't get fog machines.". "Don't you think doilies are bit underrated?" said Matt, trying to support Yang. "Your dance is gonna have fog machines?" a voice was heard from a slowly opening door, only to reveal Neptune, and Sun. "We were thinking about it…" Weiss responded. "That's pretty cool." Neptune complimented. "You ladies all excited for dress up?" Sun asked. "Pfft, yeah right." Ruby responded. "Laugh all you want, I'll be turning head tomorrow." Yang spoke up.

"What are you guys wearing?" Weiss asked. "It's...nothing too special." Matt responded, with Jason saying the same. Sun also replied "Uh...this.". "Ignore him," Neptune said, "for he knows not what he says.". "Hey, I may have moved to Mistral, but I grew up in Vacuo." Sun responded. "It's not exactly a shirt-and-tie kind of place.". "We're gonna have to get you a tux before the dance then." Jason said, starting to look up shops that might sell them in Vale. "So, uh...what does Blake think about all of this?" Sun asked, "Is she still being all, ya know...Blake-y?". "Obviously." Weiss responded which Ruby continued with "I still can't think of a way to change her mind.". "Guys. Trust me." Yang said, getting the attention of everyone in the room, "Blake will be at the dance tomorrow.". She then walked off with a big grin on her face. "Well...she's up to no good!" Matt said. "When is she not?" Jason responded, before taking Sun of into Vale to search for an outfit.

It was finally the night of the dance. Matt and Jason were making their way to the dance, while Jason was complaining about not being able to find a proper suit for Sun. Matt was wearing a regular black tuxedo, a white shirt, and a purple tie. Jason was wearing a standard white tuxedo, black shirt and red tie. Jason and Matt just reached the ballroom, only to realise they were some of the first few to have arrived. "Hey, you two!" Yang yelled over. "What's good, good lookin'?" Yang teased. "Don't talk about yourself like that." Matt responded while blushing. "So are you too each others date or…?" Yang began to ask. Jason stayed quiet while Matt answered. "Mine still isn't here…". "Well I guess I still owe you a dance then." Yang replied, giving a little grin. "Sure, I'm up for that." Matt replied. "But only when more people show up. It'd be a little awkward with no one else here…". "Not an issue!" Yang said excitedly. "Just call me over whenever." then she continued to check anyone else in.

An hour had passed, and plenty of more people started to show up. All of team RWBY were there, and Blake was laughing and enjoying herself while dancing with Sun. "You sure know how to work your magic, don't ya, Yang?" Matt said. "Speaking of magic…" Yang grabbed Matt's arm. "We're going for that dance now!". "But I don't know how to dance!" Matt replied, beginning to look a little embarrassed. "Mission accomplished!" Weiss said in a cheery tone. "So, what do we do now?" Ruby asked. "Now we have fun!" Jason said, before awkwardly standing still, not knowing what to do with himself.

"I see you're both awkwardly hiding at the punch bowl too?" Jaune asked. "Yup." Both Ruby and Jason responded. "To the socially awkward. Jaune said, before clinking all their drinks together. "Sorry things didn't work out with Weiss." Ruby said, giving her condolences. "Meh, it's fine; Neptune's pretty cool." Jaune replied. "I get why she went with him.". "What do you mean?" Ruby questioned. "Well, come on." Jaune said. "Not many people can pull off blue hair.". "He's not wrong." Jason said, before taking a sip of his punch. "No, I mean Weiss came to the dance alone." Ruby informed Jaune, causing him to cough into a fit. "What?" Jaune asked. "Yeah." Ruby replied. "She said she had too much to focus on to worry about boys.". Jaune looked over to Weiss, and saw Weiss trying to fix a flower, only for it to fall down again. She then looked up at Neptune, and a sad expression came across her face. "Hold. My. Punch." Jaune said, before making his way towards the Ice Queen. "Go get her, tiger." Jason yelled after him, causing Ruby to giggle.

"Shall we dance in the name of the awkward?" said Jason to Ruby, "Yes, we shall." leaving a slight chuckle on Ruby face. With that said, the two decided to dance on the balcony as the space was too small for the two to dance. On the way to the balcony they saw Pyrrha, making her way down the stairs in which Jason spoke to Pyrrha "Hey Pyrrha.". Pyrrha noticing that Jason and Ruby holding each other hands, "Hello Jason and Ruby…" replied Pyrrha as she urgently went to the dance floor. "That was weird, should we continue?" Jason said as he led Ruby towards the balcony, "We haven't got anything better to do." responded Ruby.

After reaching the balcony, the two began to have a slow dance but Ruby accidently stepped on Jason foot for only Ruby to instantly saying "Sorry!". "I guess both of us aren't dancers, are we?" replied Jason giving Ruby a quick laughter. The two continued their dance but Ruby was hiding the smile away from Jason. She eventually found the courage to look at Jason's face in which his expression showed depression whilst looking at the city. "What's up, Jason?" Ruby said sadly. Jason paused the dance and started to face Ruby. "It's just that… everyone is having fun, including Matt, which is a good thing, but I can't help to dwell on the past. I mean, like, how you found us in a cave, and we still have no answer as to why me and Matt were in the cave to begin with. There are so many questions that are left unanswered and the worst thing of all is that I can't help but feel powerless because I don't have my semblance." Jason continued saying after releasing a sigh, "I'm going to travel alone in the future, but please keep this a secret from Matt! If he knew about this, he would chase after me, and I want to travel alone to find my semblance. I need to know that I can do things on my own. Can I trust you with that, Ruby…?" "You know..." replied Ruby "You're a crazy skilled fighter, but I understand what you need to do.". "Thank you so, so much, Ruby. This means so much to me.". "Shut up and just slow-dance with me." Ruby said, to find Jason pulling her in, and dancing the night away.

The pair were interrupted by laughter coming from inside the dance hall. At first, they both thought people were laughing at them, but were proven wrong when they walked inside, and saw Jaune dressed in a white dress. "Jaune, why are you wearing that?" Jason asked. "Well, you know…" Jaune replied. "A promise is a promise.". Jaune then pulled Pyrrha in the middle of the dance floor, and Ren and Nora followed suit. Team JNPR danced in perfect synchronization throughout an entirety of a song, which really showed how well they worked as a team.

"I'm not sure about you, but these lady stilts are killing my feet." Ruby said, giving a little giggle towards Jason. "I think I'm gonna head back now, you alright if I go?". "Sure!" Jason responded happily. "Just don't go getting into trouble." He said, while Ruby was leaving. The rest of the night was followed by laughter, dancing, and friends just having a good time. However, team RWBY and team MJ knew that tomorrow was going to bring more work, but they were prepared for the worst, and hoped for the best.


	16. Chapter 16 - Watching Over the World

**Chapter 16 - Watching Over the World**

The next day, Matt and Jason woke up, feeling refreshed and ready to continue the search for the White Fang. While the pair got changed, they heard a knock on their door. "We need you both, now!" Yang said through the door. "Alright, give us five minutes." Jason responded. "No. Now!" Yang yelled. "Alright, alright." Matt responded. "Just give us time to get changed.". When Matt said that, Yang broke through the door, and was still wearing her pyjamas. "I said now!" Yang yelled, as she grabbed both members of team MJ into her room.

"Why have you brought these two here?" Weiss asked. "They're part of the investigation now. They should be told as well." Yang replied. "Ruby was just asked to go to Ozpin's office." Blake said, "We think they know what we've been up to.". Suddenly, Ruby walked in the door, and Yang, Weiss, and Blake ran up to her. "So, what happened?" they all asked. "Well, uh. I told them about last night, about how some woman tried to attack me, and about the hidden base outside Southeast Vale.".

"Risky." Jason put in his input. "I think you handled it well." Blake reassured Ruby. "I hope…" Ruby said, while looking towards the ground. "I'm sure everything will be alright Ruby." Yang said. "Oh, I know what'll cheer you up!". "What's that?" Ruby asked. "I don't know, dad just sent it to us." Yang replied, while picking up a package. "I thought we could open it together." Ruby sprinted towards Yang, "Oh, oh! Something from home!" she squealed.

Yang opened the package, and a small mysterious object covered in fur popped out of it. As the strange object started to change shape. "ZWEI!" yelled Ruby, "He sent a dog!?" Said Blake, followed by Weiss "In the mail?". "Oh he does this all the time" responded Yang, "I'd be worried if my dad sent a dog through mail..." Jason mentioned. "Are you telling me that this mangy…" Weiss continued her speech and stared at the dog while the dog stared back, returning the steam of panting, "drooling…" changing expression on her face from agitated to adoring while also changing her tone of voice, "mutt, is going to wive with us forevah! Oh yes he is, yes he is!". "Weiss…" Matt said, "Are you alright?". "Of course I'm fine, I just like pets, that's all." Weiss said with a blush on her face. "Oh isn't he adorable.". "Just keep him away from my stuff." Blake said, being weary of Zwei. "He isn't going to bite." Matt said, trying to calm down Blake. "Y-you don't know that." Blake responded, still keeping away from him. A voice was heard over the P.A., "Will all first year students please report to the amphitheater.". "Well," Weiss began to say, "We can't exactly leave him here for a week.". Yang then found a letter, which explained that their father, Taiyang, had to leave for a while, so he had decided to send Zwei to them, meaning he wouldn't be alone. "Zwei will be fine, come on, we need to head out." Yang said, leaving the room. "Oh I'll miss you so much! We're gonna be best friends. I can't wait to see you again." Weiss said, following Yang. Blake jumped out of the room, staying as far away from Zwei as possible. "Come on Ruby." Jason yelled as he left with Matt. "Alright, I'll be one sec!" She responded.

"Quiet, quiet please!" Was the first thing team MJ and team RWBY heard. "Professor Ozpin would like to share a few words before we begin." Miss Goodwitch said as she stepped back away from the stage. "Today," Ozpin began, "we stand together, united! Mistral, Atlas, Vacuo, Vale. The four kingdoms of Remnant. On this day, nearly 80 years ago, the largest war in recorded history was brought to an end. It was a war of ignorance, of greed, and of oppression. A war that was about much more than where borders fell or who traded with whom. But about the very idea of individualism itself. We fought for countless reasons, one of which being the destruction of all forms of art and self expression. As you are all aware that is something many of us could not stand for. As a result, those who opposed the tyranny began naming their children after one of the core aspects of art itself. Colour. It was their way to demonstrate that not only would they refuse to tolerate this oppression, but neither would the generations to come. And it is a trend that is held to this very day. We encourage individuality, expressionism, and unity. Through diversity. As I have said, today we stand together, united. But this bond can not exist without effort. Which is why today, while the rest of the world celebrates peace, huntsman and huntresses will work to uphold it. As first year students, you will be tasked with shadowing a professional huntsman or huntress on a mission. Some of you may be taken out of the kingdom for several days. Others may work within the walls for the rest of the week. But no matter what path you choose, remember to stay safe, remember your training, and remember to do your very best.".

Ozpin then walked off, with a huge applause as he left the stage. "This'll work out great. All we have to do is shadow a huntsman working in the Southeast." Ruby said, which Yang backed up. "Yeah! We'll follow them around by day, and give them the slip by night.". "Let's check 'Search and Destroy'." Weiss suggested. "We'll try to find something as well. Good luck on your mission." Jason and Matt yelled over as they started to look for other missions.

With team RWBY and team MJ making their separate ways of choosing a mission, Ozpin requested to privately talk to Matt and Jason. "I need you two for a special mission." said Ozpin. "Yeah, I'm up for it!" Jason responded. "This mission is about why you two were found in the cave, which is why I will have Professor Port accompany you to the cave, and find any evidence that will prove useful.", Ozpin continued his explanation about the mission until professor Ozpin introduced Professor Port, "You can be sure to count on me!" yelled Professor Port.

As team RWBY finally chose their mission,'Search and Destroy', the team made their way to team MJ to see Matt and Jason talking to professor Ozpin and Professor Port. "What do you think they're talking about?" Blake asked, "It must be important if Professor Port is involved..." responded Weiss, "Well, let's find out." curiously said Yang. The rest of team RWBY making their way to MJ, "Hey, professor Ozpin!" shouted Ruby. Ozpin, who now noticed Ruby, waved at her and went back to finishing off his last sentence to team MJ, "I must attend to certain matters now, I shall leave you two to it." said Ozpin as he made his exit. "What was that about?" Blake questioned, "It's about our mission, Ozpin wants us to go back where you found us to find evidence about why we were in the cave in the first place." replied Jason followed by Matt, "But there is a big problem.", "And what might that be?" Weiss questioned. "Well… the huntsmen that we are suppose to be shadowing is none other than…", Jason released a sigh before revealing his name, "Professor Port...". "C'mon guys, it's not that bad..." said Yang, trying to support team MJ. "But have you heard his stories?" Matt replied followed by Jason, "He rambles on about his stories and never stops!", leaving everyone reminded about the boring stories that he tells.

While team RWBY and team MJ finally made their way out of the amphitheater, Matt instinctively looked around to finally see team CFVY, Blake noticing Velvet urgently ran towards her, only to be beaten by Matt. "Velvet!" Matt shouted in an excited tone. Matt instantly hugged Velvet. "How was the mission?". "It was...tough, but Yatsuhashi looked out for me.". At the same time, the giant of team CFVY walked past, giving a little wave. "Your hair!?" Velvet pointed out. "It's gone purple again, so how's your mood been?". Matt responded. "Well for now it's been fine, but stage three is what's gonna be tough. Hopefully I can use my semblance in stage two, so it's not that bad.". "Hopefully…" Velvet said, before continuing. "Just don't go over the top, I don't want to see you like...well you know.". "I won't, I'm only going to use it when I have to.". Then, the rest of team RWBY walked over. "Your mission was supposed to finish a week ago." Weiss asked. "What happened?". "Nothing happened, there was just...so many. But you're just first year students, you shouldn't run into too much trouble.". "Riiiight." Yang said, sounding suspicious. "I should go." Velvet said. "Be safe, okay?". "Will do." Matt responded. "I'll see you when I get back.". Velvet turned around, gave a little smirk, and said "Yeah you will." before walking off back to her room. Yang then wolf-whistled, getting the attention of Matt. "Not a word, Xiao Long." Matt said. "Whatever, just don't go...hopping mad. Get it?" Yang joked, trying to get laughs from anyone. "Just get out." Matt responded, as both Matt and Jason made their way towards a Bullhead, with Professor Port onboard, preparing for the Emerald Forest.


	17. Chapter 17 - Back to the Beginning

**Chapter 17 - Back to the Beginning**

"I can remember the day that I fought 1,000 Beowolfs when I was your age and…", Professor Port continued to ramble on about his journeys leaving Matt and Jason in misery. "When do you think he will stop?" asked Jason. "Never… At least he didn't ramble on through the night." replied Matt until suddenly the bullhead halted, descending on Emerald forest. "Ah! We're here! Team MJ, make sure that your weapons are loaded and your mustache wax is stove." Professor Port continued his speech, "This could get hairy…". "Finally we're done with boring stories." Matt whispered to Jason, "I know, but finally we get to go to the place we were found, and possibly have some answers." replied Jason.

As Professor Port was the first to exit the bullhead, he marched his way throughout the forest, "Let's get going!" said Jason. They both grabbed their equipment, and began to shadow the Professor. Professor Port began to speak first in the moment of silence, "Since we are distant away from the cave... have you heard about the story of me in my prime, fighting against an army of Grimm?.". "Here we go again..." whined Jason, after giving a long sigh.

After the long story Professor Port was telling had ended, Jason had a curious look on his face and began to start the conversation with Professor port, "Professor, what type of semblance do you have and how did you get it?" asked Jason. "That I cannot share to anyone." answered Professor Port. "Is the purpose of asking linked to you having no semblance, Jason?" he continued. "Yes…" Jason muttered. "Semblance may be our only defense and offense to fighting Grimm, however… others use their wits and skills to fight the Grimm without using their semblance. You know, people can survive the Grimm without our protection." Professor Port continued his lecture to Jason, "Although, the majority of students in our academy holds a semblance, you can prove to everyone that you can fight like us, with or without a semblance! The only requirement that is needed is that you need to believe that you can fight the enemy without fear.". The speech managed to motivate Jason and made him smile. "He's right you know. Your skills are incredible. I don't think there's a Grimm out there that can stop you!" said Matt, encouraging Jason that he can do more without a semblance.

Professor Port exclaimed, "We are here!". Upon entering the mouth of the cave, he turned his flashlight on his Blunderbuss and proceeded further down the cave. Within their sights, wild Beowolfs were found astray and immediately glanced on the group. A sudden leap made by the Beowolfs had instantly been defeated by the continuous shots and arrows made by team MJ, leaving only Professor Port waxing his moustache.

"Great job team! Let us continue..." Professor Port commanded. As the group finally reached to the end of the cave, they had spotted two small wooden chest, on top of one of the chest had a name carved in it 'Jason Leung', the other box had the name of 'Matthew Diack' etched into the box as well. "What do you suppose is in it?" Jason questioned to Matt, "I dunno but I guess we're about to find out!", as Matt came into contact with his wooden chest, he instantly had his hair changed into complete purple while creating wind of force, pushing back Professor Port and Jason.

After the force had stopped, the box automatically opened, without Matt saying a word whilst he changed to stage 3. Jason shouted "Matt, are you ok?", "Yeah! Why'd you ask?" responded Matt while looking at Jason. "Dude, your hair is completely purple!". "No… No, no no! Get away from me or else I'm gonna lose it!" yelled Matt. "No, it's fine, you would've already been breaking stuff by now." replied Jason, "It looks like you have control over yourself!" Jason continued, "It looks like it, but that's probably just because nothing's pissed me off yet..." Matt responded. "What's in the box?" Jason questioned. As the group inspected inside the box, they had seen an emblem, team MJ looking confused on what the emblem is until Professor Port informed that the emblem had to belong to Matt. The emblem was metal, had an outline of a shield that was purple and what seemed to be flames coming from around it. The center of the shield was black, but had a purple heart in the center.

"Have you seen what's inside yours, Jason?" asked Matt. "I… I can't!" responded Jason. "What do you mean?" Matt questioned. "Perhaps it's because I… don't have a semblance…" Jason continued after releasing a sigh. "To open the box, it requires a unique semblance, like how you opened your box and it recognised it. It can't recognise mine because... I don't have one…". Matt unable to find the words to encourage Jason. A tense moment was left in the atmosphere which was soon interrupted by Professor Port who told the pair that they found what they came for and made an exit to the cave.

When the group had finally exit the cave, Professor Port heard a distress call coming from beacon, "All huntsman and huntress must return to Beacon, Grimm are invading Vale!.". "Team, we must return to Beacon at once.". "Or…"Matt said with an idea popping in his head, "We can go and help fight!". Professor Port didn't like the idea of going against Ozpin, until Matt continued. "Come on! They need our help!". Matt sighed and said one final thing. "It would be another story to tell..." Professor Port rushed to the Bullhead, "We can get to Beacon and pick up more huntsman and huntresses on the way. Now, hurry!".

As Professor Port and Team MJ got back to Beacon, they saw multiple Bullheads getting ready to take off, as well as many already being sent to Vale. While landing, Matt and Jason jumped off, and went over towards the mission area, to confirm that they had accomplished their task. "Alright, now we need to round up some huntsman!" Jason exclaimed. "And I know the perfect group." Matt responded, while looking towards a certain faunus.


	18. Chapter 18 - When the Sky Rains Blood

**Chapter 18 - When the Sky Rains Blood**

"We need to leave, now!" Matt demanded. "Well we were about to before you came over here and started yelling." Velvet stated. "We've already got a Bullhead ready." Jason said. "You're welcome to join us.". "I can get behind that. We'll get their quicker since we don't have to wait." Coco added. "And you get to spend more time together…" Coco then nudged Velvet, making her blush a little. "Come on, students." Professor Port yelled from the Bullhead. "To victory!".

During the journey, the group saw tons of Grimm which all seemed to be coming near a certain area of town. "How did the Grimm even get this close to the city?" Matt asked, which was followed up by Yatsuhashi, "Probably from that giant hole.". The entire group turned and looked out of the window, and saw a huge hole, with Grimm pouring out. "That's...a lot of Grimm." Matt said, looking nervous since the numbers were against them. "That's nothing." Coco said giving a smirk. "We can all handle this.". "How did team RWBY and JNPR get here as well?" Matt asked. "Nevermind that!" Coco yelled. "Let's move it people.". All of team CFVY jumped off, leaving Professor Port and team MJ on board. "They're a bit too feisty to fight, aren't they?" Matt asked. "Who cares, we have a job. Now come on!" Jason commanded as followed team CFVY. "Alright, alright." Matt said, before slamming on the ground. "I really have to work on my landings.".

As Matt looked around, he noticed that every hunter and huntress on sight were busy taking on large amounts of Grimm. "Alright, who's first." Matt said with a cocky grin. "Suddenly, a pair of Boarbatusk began to charge. "So I have my first targets." Matt said to himself as he ran head first, landing a devastating blow on the ground, knocking one of the Boarbatusk off balance, giving Matt just enough time to land several hits before punching it directly in the gut, sending it a few feet in the air, before he launched himself with his gauntlets, he slammed his elbow into it, dragging it into the ground, smashing the area around him. Once Matt stood back up, he had just enough time to put up his shield before the second one charged into him. "Do you ever give up?" Matt asked, as he forced the Boarbatusk back, and struck it twice in its face, only for the slight pieces of bone armour to take most of the damage. The Boarbatusk retaliated, and charged again and hit Matt into the air. Matt started to use his gauntlets to blast himself higher, before spinning around from a backflip, and charging back down, fist first directly into the Boarbatusks back, breaking the armour and going directly straight into the Grimm, killing it instantly. "Well that was easy…" Matt said, seeming a little out of breath, before two packs of Beowolfs surrounded him. "You've gotta be kidding me…" Matt sighed, before getting into his fighting pose.

Jason, on the other hand, was dealing with two Ursas. "Time to use my training." Jason said, as he waited for the first to attack. The first Ursa charged directly at Jason, giving Jason just enough time to fire two fire arrows at it, already getting some damage off. The Ursa swiped at Jason, only for him to jump over, and spin into a double front-flip, spinning out his bow into his two swords, slicing at the Ursas back multiple times. The second Ursa charged again, and headbutted Jason. Jason took his time to get back up, but once he did, he started to fire more arrows at both Ursas again. The both closed in on Jason, slicing at his over and over. Jason kept on blocking with his swords, and then started to dodge, knowing that he couldn't continue blocking the powerful attacks of two Ursas. Eventually, the second Ursa struck at Jason's legs, only for him to jump above and ready his weapon. But what Jason didn't realise was that the first Ursa was behind him, and grabbed him into a bearhug. Jason, who could no longer get away, began to get slashed by the second Ursa over and over again.

"Even more of you...great..." Matt said, as he looked at several pairs of Beowolfs. Suddenly, a yell was heard of pure agony, and when Matt turned around, he saw Jason, being slashed over and over by the Ursas. "J-J…" Matt began to struggle to find his words at the horrific sight. "JASON!" Matt yelled, as he activated his semblance, immediately feeling his strength come back, but feeling pure dread towards any Grimm standing between him and Jason. The Grimm seemed to react towards the negative emotions Matt was giving, causing tons of Grimm to advance towards him. Matt gave an insane look, knowing that he was going to start thrashing against dozens of Grimm.

Matt took on at least two dozen Grimm, before he turned all of his attention on the two Ursa, preparing another slice on Jason. The second Ursa lifted its claw, and began to slice towards Jason, only for Matt to intercept the attack, keeping the Ursa's arm in place. "Get away from him!" Matt yelled, as he slammed his fist into the Ursa's ribs so hard, it launched it back, directly into a store for children's toys. The first Ursa let go of Jason, giving Matt enough time to catch Jason on his shoulders, before spinning around, and pointing his gauntlets directly at the Grimms head. "Now it's time to say goodbye!" Matt yelled, as the Ursa gave a confused look before Matt fired his gauntlet, completely disintegrating the head of the Ursa.

Glynda began to walk through the broken streets of Vale, repairing damage that was caused, as well as stopping any remaining Grimm. She eventually repaired the hole that Grimm kept on coming out of, trapping the rest on the other side. Team RWBY, team JNPR, team CFVY, Sun, Neptune, and all of the professors regrouped at the center of town, knowing that they had stopped a huge tragedy, as Emerald and Mercury brought in Roman Torchwick. Everyone was congratulating each other, until Yang pointed out, "Wait, where's Matt and Jason? I'm pretty sure I saw them both beating the hell out of some Grimm.". "Yea, they were here when we got here." Velvet assured Yang, sounding worried since neither of them was in sight. Once everyone had stopped talking, they all heard a slight sobbing coming from a block away. Everyone began to follow the sounds, and walked around the corner to see Matt sitting on the ground, still using his semblance. A huge roar erupted as Matt yelled, taking him out of his semblance, causing Ruby, Velvet and a few others to recoil. "Matt!" Velvet yelled over. "I thought we agreed to only use your semblance when we had no other choice!". Matt turned around to Velvet, with his face covered in tears and blood. "What the hell happened?" Velvet asked as she ran over to Matt, only to realise that it wasn't him that was injured, but was instead Jason, with slices all over his body, and was passed out on the ground, in a pool of his own blood.

A day had passed. Matt was still struggling, seeing that his best friend was in a critical condition. Despite the constant support from team RWBY, team JNPR, and team CFVY, nothing could get the sight of Jason's body out of Matt's head. Matt went to see Jason in the medical bay, along with Velvet, who was doing her best to support Matt. "I'm sure he'll be in tip-top shape anytime soon." Velvet said, reassuring Matt. "Thank you so much for being here." Matt replied, "I won't be too long, I just want to check up on him before we meet up with everyone else.". "Not a problem." Velvet said, giving Matt a smile. "Take as much time as you need." before she sat down on a chair outside of Jason's medical room. A minute passed, and the door swung open, startling Velvet. "What the hell are you doing!?" Velvet yelled at Matt. "It's Jason!" Matt gave Velvet a note that was left from Jason. "He's gone!"


	19. Chapter 19 - One Action, Two Reactions

**Chapter 19 - One Action, A Thousand Consequences**

Jason had finally made his exit, however, just before he could make his escape, none other than Professor Ozpin awaited for his arrival. "I know that you are going somewhere to find your semblance Jason, and trust me, I won't stop you at all, but what about your friends? Do you think they will be alright with your absence?.". "Who cares!" Jason shouted in anger, "To them, they must think I'm some kind of liability. I can't even defend myself!", Jason continued his wrath on Professor Ozpin, to which he responded casually, "Oh, you think so. But what I think is that you can achieve great heights, you don't have to travel to find your semblance, we can help you Jason. You just have to let us-". "No!" Jason objected to Professor Ozpin's request, "You can't... I've got to do this on my own, I have to know that I can survive on my own and to see if I'm worth being in this academy." Jason exclaimed. "I'm going and I won't come back until I find what I'm looking for. But for now, I will see you later, Professor Ozpin…", as Jason ran, making his exit, Professor Ozpin didn't say a word but instead watched him leave.

With Jason leaving with his scroll and weapon, he had finally felt slight happiness within himself as he obtained freedom like none other. He felt like he can do anything, but that happiness was stopped after Jason realised the most important thing on his mind, "Where the hell do I go…?" Jason thought to himself, however, the first thing that popped into his head was the Emerald Forest, he felt like his first journey should take place in the forest, where his survival skills are put to the test. As Jason made his way to Emerald Forest, he managed to meet up with Beowolfs and Creeps, Jason feeling confident that he can take on the Grimm, later found out that he made a grave mistake… the damage that he received from the Ursas was still major, to which the damage had made his movement slower.

The Grimm had seen him which led the Beowolfs and Creeps to make an instant rush towards Jason. With Jason unable to defend himself, his only option was to retreat deeper into the forest. As the fierceful Grimm had charged at Jason, just before they could do any damage to him, Jason had finally made it to the forest in which he had launched himself in the air to only land in the trees, Jason feeling relieved for a brief moment, gave out relentless panting, trying to catch his breath. That was until his paradise was broken by Beowolfs. Jason looked down, and saw Beowolfs clawing their way up on the trees. This made Jason more weary of his surroundings, leading him to jump from tree to tree.

While jumping tree to tree, Jason had instantly turned his head to only find three Beowolfs chasing after him. With that in mind, Jason had quickly turned around for only him to combine his swords and shoot two arrows while in mid-air, killing two of the pack in the process. This left Jason smirking, thinking that he can take on the last, however, just after drawing the arrow, he aimed at the last Beowolf, and within the moment, his bowstring snapped, leaving Jason shocked which led the Beowolf to grab Jason by the shoulders and sank its teeth within Jason's neck while airborne. Jason's back pounded on the ground first, and was unable to fight the Beowolf back, leaving him in pure agony, that was until a mysterious arrow was planted into the Beowolf's head out of nowhere, with the amount of blood lost Jason had received, his sight was blurry and started to become unconscious.

"WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED!" screamed Jason, after looking around, he noticed that he was inside a large cone shaped tent that was made from sticks, animal hide, painted in red and yellow stripes and had patterned spots, however within the tent, he noticed two people were in the same tent as him. One of them was an old lady, slightly tanned who had unique clothing that Jason had never seen before, she wore a red headband which had feathers attached to it. She also wore a brown dress and had painted two stripes on each cheek, beside her was a very young girl, looking scared. She had had the same dress, headband, and two red paint stripes on her cheeks but had a ponytail.

The two people were startled by Jason's' immediate awakening, "Where am I?" Jason questioned, "Relax now. You are still hurt, no?" replied the old lady, Jason looking at his condition, saw multiple bandages on himself which were mainly on his neck. When he touched them, he immediately felt pain, and then remembered his fight with the Beowolfs which led Jason to question the old lady, "Who are you?", "Why I'm the Elder of this tribe, dear." replied the old lady. "Tribe?" responded Jason. "Yes. The warriors saw you being killed by the beast, and so they saved you and brought you here…".

The Elder paused for few moments and inspected Jason's face, "What's wrong child?", the Elder questioned, after seeing Jason's face agitated. "So many people have saved my life countless times, so I ran away from home to fight for myself but yet again...", Jason continued after releasing a sigh, "I have to rely on someone else to save my life. This just make my purpose here pointless…", "Then how about you live with us and see how our warrior's fight, they are really strong!" exclaimed the young girl. "Now now, Mia." said the Elder, trying to calm down the young girl, "She's quite energetic, isn't she?" giving Jason slight laughter, "You know, you're welcome to our tribe." the Elder offered to Jason. "You'll let me stay here?" exclaimed Jason, "I don't see why not." responded the Elder. "Thank you so much!" yelled Jason, leaving him to be extremely happy. "We shall leave you to rest for now. Come now, Mia!" yelled the Elder, "Coming!" replied Mia. As the two left Jason, he laid back to finally rest and fell asleep.


	20. Chapter 20 - The Hunt for Confidence

**Chapter 20 - The Hunt for Assurity**

The next day, Jason started to wake up and had managed to heal the majority of his wounds. With his wounds healed, Jason noticed Mia was playing with Jason's weapons. "Mia! Put them back!" shouted Jason "They're not toys!" he continued, "Okay…" sobbed Mia as she placed the weapons back on the table. "Hey… don't cry, tell you what, I'll show you a magic trick!". "Magic!" Mia yelled in excitement. As Jason found his scroll, he was configuring it. "Smile!" said Jason, "Wait, what..." replied Mia, before a bright, white flash engulfed Mia and left her confused on what the light was. "Look! You're trapped in the screen!", as Jason revealed the picture to Mia. The picture had Mia with a large smile which had her teeth showing. Meanwhile, she was holding her hands behind her back. Mia questioned "Is that me?", "Yup!" replied Jason. "How did you do that? responded Mia, "Magic…" in which the following hour had Jason showing the functions of the scroll to Mia.

"Hello, Elder." said Jason. "I see that you and Mia are getting along well." the Elder replied, "She's... very energetic. She reminds me of someone who's just as energetic as her..." responded Jason, giving a smile afterwards. "Well, food is ready. Whenever you are ready, come out of the tent. I'll introduce you to the tribe.". "Thank you, Elder.", "It's not a problem." the Elder replied.

As the three exited the tent in the middle of the night, Jason stood, inspecting the area. He saw ten cone shaped tents that were placed and lined up to create a large circle, but Jason knew that the tribe was very small. In the centre of the circle was a cooking pot which was surrounded by members of the tribe. Jason, looking clueless, had revealed his name to everyone and had everyone stare at him for awhile. That was until the tribe yelled towards him, "Come, sit with us. Tell us about your adventures, young one.". As Jason sat next to the tribe members, he was anxious at first, but as time passed, he was accustomed to the environment and had conversation with the rest of the tribe, leaving everyone in laughter and ending with a unique dance that Jason had never seen before. The dance ended and the tribe members returned to their tents including Jason, sleeping the day off.

After the day had passed, Jason went outside the tent to find the tribe members in training. Mia appeared out of nowhere, "They are really strong!" exclaimed Mia, followed by the Elder coming out of her tent. "She's right, they are the warriors that gather our food and protect us from the beasts.". Jason stretched all of his muscles before asking the warriors to join them in training, to which they gladly accepted. Jason noticed that the training he received from them was…easy, however, as they had finished their training, the warriors told the Elder that they were off hunting. As they were about to leave, Jason rushed in while grabbing his weapon, and asked if he could also join them in their hunt.

Jason was curious about how they would fight the Grimm without a semblance. He knew that they had a certain strategy other than using guns. They must have something else. With one of the tribe members holding a certain device, Jason questioned, "What is that?". "It's a trap that can stop the beast from moving.".

As the group went further down the forest, they saw a wild Ursa, to which the tribe member planted the device on the ground and threw rocks to get the Ursa's attention. As the beast charged towards the group, it stepped on the device, restricting its movement, letting everyone in the tribe attack the Ursa until it was killed, leaving Jason amazed at their fighting method.

After finding an animal within the forest, the tribe killed and took its meat back into the village. As the group made it's way back to the village, Mia instantly ran towards Jason. "Did you see how strong they are!" Mia Shouted, "They sure are strong..." nervously replied Jason as he was surprised of their method to fight Grimm was different than his own. Jason had finally decided that if he can't fight with a semblance, he will fight like the tribe, and so he had learned knowledge of creating traps and standard weapons such as spears with Mia following him, also learning about the tribe's method.

With continuous days of training with the tribe, Jason and Mia started becoming best friends, and within the first week of being part of the tribe, Jason became comfortable with the environment he was living in. He began to think that he would find it best if he stayed within the tribe than going back to Beacon as he won't be able to bother anyone in Beacon again, let alone be a liability to them.


	21. Chapter 21 - The Storm Within Our Hearts

**Chapter 21 - The Storm Within Our Hearts**

During the middle of the night, Jason took his weapons and went into the forest. Upon reaching the forest, he noticed a waterfall. Jason decided that he should still continue his training and improve his skills as a huntsmen, however, when he had finally sat down on the rock, Jason combined his two swords together and saw the bow string broken. Within time he had tried to fix the bow string and put it back into place but as Jason tried and tried again, he ripped the bow string off and threw it at the river stream out of anger.

Jason, who was now building up sweat from training, had now decided that he would return and continue his training another day, but just before he could get close the village, Jason saw the Elder. "Elder, what's wrong!" yelled Jason, the Elder was unable to reply. Jason began to walk closer towards her, until he saw trails of blood coming from her back. Jason instantly rushed to the Elder but the Elder fell to the ground. Jason began to inspect her and noticed that she had been stabbed in the back. "ELDER, WHAT HAPPENED! WHO DID THIS!", "It's… the beast… you must save her… you must save Mia…" as the elder finished her last breath, Jason mourned her death to which he hurried back to the village, making sure that no time is wasted.

As Jason rushed back to the village, he saw corpses of the tribe lied around the forest, as well as trees toppled over. Jason ran at top speed worrying that the same thing could happen to Mia. Jason, managing to finally appear at the village, saw four Death Stalkers destroying his home. He soon noticed that the Death Stalkers were surrounding someone. "HELP!" screamed Mia. With Jason knowing that the Death Stalkers were surrounding Mia, he charged relentlessly, only to be pushed back with ease by one of the Death Stalker's pincer's.

"MIA! I SWEAR I WILL SAVE YOU!" Jason shouted in anger, but as soon as he continuously charged towards the Death Stalkers, he kept being pushed back, "AAAHHHHHH!", as Mia screamed, she was being picked up by one of the Death Stalker stingers. "NO!" pleaded Jason whilst on his knees, Jason begged the Death Stalkers to let Mia go but they ignored him.

Jason yelled in despair "No! Please! Don't do this!" as the Death Stalker lifted Mia high into the air. "NO!" Jason shouted in misery whilst running towards the group of Death Stalkers, as it swung her with full force, "MIAAA!". Her frail body collided against a tall oak tree, leaving her body on the ground, not even a muscle was moving when Jason had seen her. While Jason, falling to his knees, broke down in tears, crying, it was as if he was despair itself. However… moments later he changed the misery inside him and started to felt… rage… With an agitated face, Jason roared, "GODDAMMIT!". Clouds started to brew and clump together as Jason's rage continued, "WHY CAN'T I EVEN PROTECT ONE GIRL!". The clouds started to become a storm. Jason planted his fist onto the ground, but as soon as he punched the ground, lightning struck at the same time. "ARRRGHHH!", another fist was punched to the ground, sending another lightning bolt to the ground. With Jason uncontrollable rage taking over him, the storm started to grow bigger, and had lightning bolts colliding into one large blue lightning beam which struck Jason, creating massive shockwaves, pushing the four Death Stalkers back.

As the large beam continued to strike Jason, he started to emerge from it. Walking slowly, he carried his dual wield swords but within the brief moment, he took a different appearance. Jason's aura started to manifest and appear itself with light blue, however it started to change. The aura started to take on a different form until the aura disappeared completely, but Jason's entire body was imbued with electricity with his hair spiked. Jason was unaware of this, but charged and jumped in the air to create a spinning vertical slash, which split one of the Death Stalkers clean in half. Before any of the Death Stalkers could react, Jason rushed at high speed, jumped, and side-kicked the other Death Stalker. While planting his foot on its head, he pushed himself off the Death Stalker and did a backflip. During the backflip, Jason had combined his weapons together to make a bow and instantly made an electrical bow string to which he rained electrical arrows from above, destroying two of the Death Stalkers, leaving one Death Stalker left. After Jason had landed, he detached his weapons, but instead of using them to kill the last Death Stalker, he dropped them. With the Death Stalker having no other option but to charge at Jason, it made its sudden rush towards him, however the Death Stalker made a grave mistake. As the Death stalker was charging at him, Jason had channeled his electricity and created a bigger storm. Just before the Death Stalker could reach Jason, he had summoned a huge lighting beam that was targeted directly at the Death Stalker, lifting the Grimm in the air. It started to make continuous twitches as lighting was piercing through its body, in which the Death Stalker had began to disintegrate and left ashes at the end.

WIth the battle ending in Jason's victory, his wrath started to calm, he grabbed his weapons and ran towards Mia, "Mia!" shouted Jason, with no response, he checked her pulse as well as if she was breathing, but within little time, Jason had found a pulse as well as slight breath coming out, with that in mind, Jason hurried back into Beacon, making sure that Mia will survive.


	22. Chapter 22 - The Rainbow After the Storm

**Chapter 22 - The Rainbow After the Storm**

At the entrance of Beacon academy, Ozpin had yet again awaited Jason's arrival, "Professor Ozpin, I need your help!". Jason paused for a second to catch his breath "We have to save her!", Ozpin then took Jason and Mia towards the medical bay. Jason and Professor Ozpin waited outside of the room, when suddenly a nurse appeared out of the door, to which Jason instantly ran towards her. "Will she be okay? Please tell me she is okay!" yelled Jason while looking worried and grabbing the nurse by the shoulders. "S-s-she's fine." replied the nurse. "Calm down Jason, you're scaring my staff. You have to talk to me about what happened." said Professor Ozpin, "Alright." responded Jason.

Jason explained the entire story and how he might have a semblance to Professor Ozpin. "She will need a couple of days rest, in the meantime, we will have researchers study your semblance, so for now you can rest in the medical bay." said Ozpin. "Thank you Professor". Finally, Jason had received a good night rest whilst having a room to himself in the medical bay.

The next day, Professor Ozpin and the researchers had found out what Jason semblance is in which was a very rare case for him. As they entered into Jason's room in the medical bay, Professor Ozpin asked "Would you like to share it with him?" Jason made a confused reaction, then the researchers explained that the semblance Jason acquired was electrokinesis. The researchers were talking to Jason about his semblance. "The semblance you have is limitless. This is because you don't need a power source or any electricity charge to power you up. This means you can activate it whenever you feel it's necessary. Furthermore, you can create hard electricity which has already been shown with the hard electricity manifested to create a bow string, but that's not all. You're also able to imbue yourself with your own electricity, increasing your speed exponentially, as well as increasing your strength minorly, however, if you receive any damage, you'll get seriously injured. But the problem we have is, we don't know how fast you can go…". This was followed up by Professor Ozpin, "We want to test to see how fast you can actually go.". "I'm up for it." replied Jason.

As the researchers, Professor Ozpin and Jason made their way to the training grounds, team RWBY spotted them from afar. "Look!" Weiss pointed out the group, "It's Jason! What do you suppose they want with him?" Weiss continued. "Not sure but it looks important." replied Blake "Well, let's follow them!" Ruby yelled in excitement at the sight of seeing Jason.

The researchers and Professor Ozpin was introducing Jason to the rules and place he was in, "We want you to run as fast as you can from point A to point B, do you think you can do that Jason?" said Professor Ozpin. "I think I can do my best." replied Jason, as he made his way to point A. The rest of the group were stood away from him whilst team RWBY was watching Jason from afar. "Whenever you are ready Jason." said the researchers, to which Jason casually activated his semblance and left ripples of shock waves. When Jason was ready, he charged instantly, faster than the eye can see, and managed to end up in point B, reaching it in mere seconds. "What the hell was that!" Yang exclaimed, "I think he's faster than Ruby." Weiss mentioned, which Ruby did not respond but instead was amazed of Jason's semblance.

"That was impressive, Jason." said Professor Ozpin, followed by the researchers, "You managed to reach top speed of mach two!", leaving Jason to be surprised himself. "I think we should tell Matt about this." said Yang, to which everyone nodded and exited the training grounds. A nurse appeared to the training grounds and told Jason that Mia has woken up. Jason instantly rushed towards the medical bay and entered Mia's room. "Jason!" exclaimed Mia, while Jason ran to Mia and hugged her. "I'm so glad you're alive…" Jason cried, after breaking the hug, "I'm sorry Jason, but we can't have her here." said Professor Ozpin in a worried tone. "Wait, what do you mean!?" Jason replied in anger. "We have to put her in a orphanage at Atlas otherwise she might be in danger from Grimm. Don't you remember in Vale, when the Grimm invaded it? The chances that they might attack Beacon-", "Then I'll protect her!" said Jason while interrupting Professor Ozpin. "Atlas is well known for its protection, she'll be safer there, and remember, you can't protect everyone." said Professor Ozpin, encouraging Jason to agree with him but Jason ran away from the room after hearing Professor Ozpin.

As team RWBY and Matt tried to find Jason around the academy, Ruby found Jason first sitting at the fountain, looking gloomy whilst holding his scroll. But instead of telling everyone, she approached towards Jason. Jason noticed Ruby, and he allowed her to sit next to him. He then showed her the picture of Mia that was taken from the first time they talked to each other. Jason then began to tell his story to Ruby and how Mia is unable to stay at Beacon. "I'm sure you'll get to see her from time to time." said Ruby while trying to comfort Jason. "But now she has no family because of me. It's my fault for being too weak!" cried Jason. "Then grow stronger. Grow stronger so that you can protect those who are close to you!" Ruby responded while giving a hug to Jason to cheer him up. After Ruby's response, Jason had broke the hug stood up, "Thanks Ruby, I finally know what I want to do in my life.". "Anytime." replied Ruby, the two then made their way to the training facility.

When Jason proceeded his training, he activated his semblance and used it in different ways which surprised Ruby. Later that hour, the rest of team RWBY and Matt spectated Jason's training, which amazed all of them at the sight of his semblance. Matt, being anxious to talk to Jason after not seeing from a while, until he saw his face. Matt had seen Jason's face and knew that he was desperate for something. Before Matt left the training facility, Yang yelled "Where are you going!", "He looks busy…" replied Matt to which he returned back into his room.

After Jason finished his training, everyone in team RWBY complemented Jason for his semblance to which he responded to their compliments but asked the question to them, "Where's Matt?". "He's in your room." said Yang, "I'll go see him." replied Jason. Jason made his way towards his room, and walked in. "Long time no see, buddy!" exclaimed Jason. "Jason!" replied Matt, giving him a hug. After breaking the hug, Matt had his hair changed to completely purple. "WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN ALL THIS TIME!" shouted Matt, "I know, I know, you must be mad at me for disappearing, but at least I found my semblance now!", Matt hair started to change back to its second stage colour. "Alright...since you have a semblance, do you think you can open your wooden chest now?" Matt questioned. "Dunno, let's find out!" replied Jason, as Jason sent a jolt of lightning through the box, he had opened it, but within the box had a metal emblem. The emblem had a colour blue which had a cloud and in front of the cloud was a lightning bolt.

The two had talked to each other about Jason's travel and how he had acquired his semblance which had led the two talking overnight. The next day was Mia's last day before going to Atlas. Jason visited Mia, and brought alongside team RWBY, team JNPR, and Matt, introducing them all to Mia. Since it was Mia's last day, all of them showed her what Beacon Academy was like, as well as bringing her to the Vale market. "Oh my goodness, she's so cute!" Yang squealed after hearing Mia speak in front of the group, "Jason! What's that?" exclaimed Mia in a soft toned voice, "That's a clothing store where people buy different types of clothes, in fact, we can actually buy you clothes so you can look like us!" said Jason. "Weiss, you've got fashion sense, do you think you can choose some clothes for Mia?". "Okay, if you insist. Come on Mia." said Weiss as she brought Mia into the clothing store. "Jason, are you alright?" questioned Matt. "I want to make sure that everything is okay for her." replied Jason, "She doesn't know this yet, but her entire tribe has been wiped out by the Grimm, apart from me and her. Now I'm worried about what will happen in the future." he continued. "Everything will be alright, Jason." said Pyrrha, "Yeah, don't worry about it. We'll make sure that this day will be the best day for her!" Jaune yelled, supporting Jason, "We are all here to help you and Mia soooo… LET'S MAKE THIS THE BEST DAY EVER!" Ruby shouted.

"Do you know you owe me one Jason!" yelled Weiss, "Don't worry, I'll make it up to you." replied Jason, to which Mia had left Weiss, and was now wearing a white frilly dress. "This feels weird!" shouted Mia while all of the girls had started to adore her. Throughout the day, the group started to venture around Vale, showing Mia different places that she had never seen before.

The group had finally made it to Beacon for Mia's department, but as soon as Mia was making her way to the Bullhead, she ran back to hug Jason, leaving tears behind and told him that she will miss him which also made Jason cry. The two fell into tears, but as time passed, Mia had finally made her way to the Bullhead, looking out at the window, "I promise that I'll see you again!" Jason shouted, carving a smile on Mia's face.


	23. Chapter 23 - Players of a Bigger Game

**Chapter 23 - Players of a Bigger Game**

The Vytal Festival Tournament finally arrived! Matt, Jason, team JNPR and team CFVY watched from their seats as team RWBY participated in their first fight. "Hoho!" Professor Ports voice came from multiple speakers around the arena. "It seems we have another astonishing bout ahead of us! Wouldn't you agree, Professor?". "Doctor." Doctor Oobleck corrected, "And yes, Peter, I think it's safe to say this match may be one of the closest we've seen in the four-on-four rounds of the tournament!". Peter turned his attention directly towards a camera, before announcing "For those of you just now joining us, welcome to the Vytal Festival Tournament!" He continued, "Broadcasting live from the Amity Colosseum! Now, let's get back to the match between team RWBY of Beacon and team ABRN of Haven!".

Matt was paying more attention to Yang who was going toe-to-toe against Arslan Altan, the leader of team ABRN, and a skilled martial artist, while Jason was watching Blake finish off Reese, a girl with some sort of hover board for a weapon. Yang and Arslan kept on parrying each others attacks, until they both clashed directly in the middle, sending a shockwave throughout the arena, getting the cheers of the audience. Yang kept up her onslaught, only for her to be took off her feet by Arslan's rope dart, and then kicked onto the ice, making her unable to make a speedy recovery. She was kicked again and left wide open for Nadir to fire. He was intercepted by Ruby, firing her sniper rifle, saving Yang from more damage. Ruby was then about to be attacked by Bolin and his staff, only for Weiss to use her glyphs to run over, and kick Bolin into another sector of the stadium.

Ruby and Weiss continued their assault, attacking in perfect unison, only for Bolin to dodge, and throw a fire crystal at Reese, giving her a power up on her hoverboard, which she then used to slam Blake through ice. "This fight is getting intense!" Matt yelled at the top of his lungs. "Not so loud…" Velvet said, scolding Matt. "Oh come on. We're in an arena. It's going to get loud!" Matt argued. "I swear, you two argue like a couple." Jason stated, making Velvet and Matt blush. "That reminds me," Coco began to say. "After this, Velvet wants you to go to our room…". "Umm, what?" Matt asked, wondering if he had heard Coco correctly. "It's not like that!" Velvet said raising her voice, "I have a little surprise-", "Bet you do-" Coco interrupted, only for Velvet to yell back, "Enough! You!" She pointed at Coco. "Shh. I have a surprise for the both of you. I asked a favour of Weiss and she's helped me get something for you. After this, just come to my room, and everything will be ready.". "Sounds like a plan!" Jason said, before he was interrupted by a buzzer, which was followed up by Matt yelling "Damn it! I didn't see what happened!" Matt complained as he looked towards the scoreboard to see Reese was just defeated.

Weiss began using glyphs to throw Bolin and Nadir together, keeping them in the center of the ice field. Weiss then made another glyph, and summoned a giant ice hand that grabbed the pair, and started to roll around the entire arena. Arslan then got some distance before standing in front of it, got into a fighting pose, and hit it with an open palm, shattering it instantly. Weiss then created an ice ramp, which Yang accepted as her time to shine. She ran along the ramp, using her gauntlets to get momentum. Blake lent a hand and threw Gambol Shroud at Yang and started to swing with all her might. Ruby helped Blake, and launched her off her shoulders, giving Yang the perfect opportunity to hit the remaining members of team ABRN in one punch, knocking them all out of the arena.

Team MJ, team CFVY, and team JNPR all made their way down to the waiting rooms to congratulate team RWBY. "That was incredible!" Matt exclaimed. "It's what we do best." Yang replied, trying to hide her excitement. Ruby, who wasn't doing as good of a job as Yang, was nearly bursting with excitement. "Ican'tbelievewedidit! Thathastobethegreatestfightwe'veeverdone!". "Congratulations guys!" Jason said. "Thank you." Weiss responded. "Oh, Weiss!" Matt called out, "Apparently you've helped Velvet get something?", "You haven't shown them yet?" Weiss asked Velvet. "Not yet!" Velvet said, giving a big grin. "Well we're about to head out into Vale." Weiss said. "Team JNPR are gonna be having their match soon, we'll be back for that. Until then, enjoy.". Weiss and the rest of the team walked off, with Ruby giving an unknown look, showing that she has no idea what either of them had planned.

As Jason and Matt followed Velvet, they finally made their way into team CFVY's room. "You know, you didn't have to get us anything…" Matt said, before Velvet interrupted him. "Shut up." Velvet commanded, making Matt immediately be quiet. "Yup. Just like a couple…" Jason said under his breath. "Now," Velvet began, "you know that both your jacket and tailcoats were...stolen." This brought a spark in Matt's eyes. "You've found them!" Matt exclaimed. "Well…" Velvet continued, before revealing both a jacket and a tailcoat. "What's that?" Jason asked, looking at the chest area of the tailcoat. "That...is your new style." Velvet replied, sounding proud of herself. Jason could now see that his emblem was now embedded in his tailcoat, showing off his emblem on his chest where his heart is. "Quick question," Matt began, "why did you take mine as well if you changed only-". Matt stopped talking as Velvet turned around the jacket, revealing that his emblem was now embedded into the back of his jacket, being large, but not big enough to take up the entire back.

"I can't believe you went through all this trouble!" Jason said, as he thanked Velvet. "This-I-Thank you so much." Matt said as he walked over to Velvet and gave her a hug, "But you're not giving us this for free. Come with us into the market and I'll buy you any food you want!", "Normally I'd say no to this kind of opportunity…" Velvet began to say, "But... since it's you, sure!" Velvet said with a cheery tone.

Matt, Jason, and Velvet had just finished their meals. Velvet requested they should eat at Appetite's Dust, which would be expensive, but Matt mentioned he may, or may not, know a white haired girl who's last name belongs to the Schnee family. "That really was tasty!" Velvet exclaimed, "I've never been able to try food here because of the prices, but thanks to you, I finally have. Thank you both so much!". "Not a problem." Matt responded, "We couldn't eat that much because of the match we have later on.". As Matt finished of the sentence, Jason's scroll buzzed. His eyes turned to a look of fear as he turned to Matt. "WE'RE LATE!" Jason yelled as he grabbed Matt and charged up to the colosseum, with Velvet running shortly behind.


	24. Chapter 24 - Onward to Victory

**Chapter 24 - Onward to Victory**

Matt and Jason only just made their way into the arena on time, making a few people think the match may be cancelled. The pair were walking in the center of the arena, before Jason realised something. "Wait. We're doing a four-on-four match, but there's only two of us!". "That is not an issue." A voice, belonging to Professor Ozpin, came from around the corner. "Once you go out, you'll have the opportunity to choose two other people from Vale to fight on your team.", "Oh, right." Jason said, thinking that it may not work out too well. "You ready for this?" Matt asked Jason. "I've never been more ready!" he replied.

As team MJ walked onto the field, they were greeted by Professor Port on the microphone. "And here they are. Team MJ, with the team members Matthew Diack, and Jason Leung!". The pair waved to everyone in the crowd, but both gave special attention to the spots where team RWBY, team JNPR, team CFVY, and where Sun and Neptune, and the rest of Sun's team were sitting. As Jason and Matt looked at the other team, only to be interrupted by Professor Port, "And coming from Shade Academy, team SCRP, with team leader Scott Rust, Carla Rott, Ross Erode, and Parker Mold.". Jason was looking at the competition, but noticed one odd thing, they were all wearing biker clothes, but the jackets were the colour of rust, with the exception of black outlinings down the center. The hair of each member was red at the roots, but turned white as it went down. The leader revealed to have a baseball bat that would fire rockets out of the tip. Carla was using buzzsaws attached by wips that looked like it was capable of cutting through iron. Ross was wearing a mask, which seemed to be able to spit out a toxic substance. And finally Parker, who was using a pair of brass knuckles which was infused with different element of dust.

Matt and Jason kept on hearing questions from other people, but each question was the same. "Where is the rest of your team, boy scouts?" The leader of team SCRP asked. Matt swung his arm to the side and pointed without looking. "Right there!". Two lights focused in on where he was pointing. "Pyrrha Nikos and Jaune Arc have been chosen!" Professor Port announced. "Jaune? Really?" Jason asked, feeling like he was doomed. "Not exactly who I wanted. I kinda meant to point towards Pyrrha and Coco...but this can still work.". A grin swept across Matt's face as Jaune and Pyrrha walked down into the stadium. Matt pulled Pyrrha and Jason to him and said, "I've seen guys like this before. Just follow my lead." Pyrrha gave Jason a confused look, only for Jason to shrug, not knowing Matt's master plan.

"Oh I'm sooooo lucky we have the expert fighter Jaune Arc with us!" Matt yelled, getting everyone's attention. "W-what're you talking about?" Jaune asked. Matt just told Jaune to shush before carrying on. "There's no way all four of them could take you down! There's just no way!". "Excuse me!?" Team SCRP yelled over. "We'll show you who's really tough!" Parker yelled, cracking his knuckles. Matt turned back around to Jason and Pyrrha and winked, showing his plan worked. Professor Port started the countdown. "3!...2!...1!...Begin!"

The four members of team SCRP rushed at Jaune, hitting him with everything they had. All Jaune could do was block and hope he didn't get tore to shreds. "What the hell were you thinking!?" Jason yelled. "They're all talk and try to look bigger by taking on tough people. Pyrrha!" Matt yelled getting the amazon's attention. "You're up! Deflect the attacks and protect Jaune!". Pyrrha accepted Matt's order, and charged head first at the group. Once she started deflecting, she realised that they had no synchronisation and that they couldn't work as a team, meaning blocking was a lot simpler than she first thought.

She kept on blocking them all back, refusing to let a single attack get through. "Jason! Let's light it up! Jaune's shield! Now!". Jason ran and dove in the air and fired an arc of lightning on Jaune's shield, bouncing the electricity all around the arena, until each member of team SCRP was struck by the lightning, paralyzing them for a short time. "Perfect timing!" Matt yelled as he jumped and slammed his fists onto the ground, creating a ripple effect, knocking all of team SCRP into the air. "Speed it up now!". Jason started to use his semblance around him, and became a lot faster. "Run them around in circles!". Jason sighed at the thought of his insane plan actually working. Jason started to create a tornado, keeping them all in the air. "Pyrrha, shield time!". Pyrrha sent her shield into the tornado, which kept on bouncing and hitting all of team SCRP. "Keep it up. You're doing great, Jason!". All that could be seen of Jason was a blur. "Drop 'em!" screamed Matt. Jason ran a few more laps, and sent them to the top of his tornado before he departed. Matt then launched himself off Jaune's shield, and hit a combo against every team SCRP member, finishing every member with a punch directly to the cheek, slamming them to the ground, instantly depleting their aura.

"We did it?" Jason asked as he looked around. "Hell yeah we did! Now did I have a plan or what?" Matt asked, waiting to get praise from everyone. "You nearly killed me!" Yelled Jaune who started to chase Matt. "But we won…" Matt said, knowing that he couldn't stay mad for too long. "It was...impressive, I'll give you that.". Jason then activated his bow and fired red dust infused arrows in the air, looking like fireworks.

"That was so awesome!" Ruby said with excitement. "Looks like the dork had a plan after all." Yang stated, only for Velvet to respond, while blushing, "Emphasis on dork.". Doctor Oobleck's voice filled the arena "That concludes the matches for today. Please leave the colosseum in a CALM AND ORDERLY FASHION.". "I think we should congratulate them." Weiss suggested as she walked off to the waiting room, and was quickly followed by the rest of team RWBY, Ren, Nora, and Velvet.

Team JNPR went back to their rooms, knowing that the were going to rest well after the fights. Team RWBY, team MJ and Velvet were still sticking around. "It was a clever tactic." Blake said, knowing that the plan worked just as intended. "And you did it in style thanks to us two." Weiss said while standing with Velvet. "We're gonna have to thank you for making us these." Jason said while showing off his new attire. "You'll thank me later." Velvet said to Matt while walking off, leaving Yang with the perfect opportunity to give a wolf-whistle. Suddenly, a ship with ribbons attached to the side started to fly in, and Weiss payed a lot of attention to it. "Weiss?" Jason asked. "Are you okay?". Weiss then let out a huge smile and quietly said "She's here!" before running off to where the ship was landing, leaving Matt, Jason, and Ruby to chase after her.


	25. Chapter 25 - Family Rivalries

**Chapter 25 - Family Rivalries**

"Weiss!" Ruby yelled as she chased her into the courtyard. "Slow down!". "How are they both so fast?" Matt asked Jason while they both tried to keep up. Once Jason and Matt finally caught up, they saw Ruby and Weiss standing with a tall girl wearing what looked like an Atlesian Military specialist outfit. When team MJ finally got near Weiss, some military robots were asked to leave them. Suddenly, Weiss was smacked by the taller girl, "Silence you boob!" She began to say, "I don't recall asking you about your ranking. I asked how you've been. Are you eating properly? Have you took up any hobbies?". Jason and Matt were now standing along with Ruby and watched the two white haired girls. "Are you making new friends?". "Well there are these guys." Weiss said as she turned around and saw Jason, Matt, and Ruby.

"I see." The taller girl responded. "You must be the leader of my sisters team. Greeting, Ruby Rose.". "Wait a second." Matt perked up. "Sister? I didn't know you had a sister!". "The name is Winter, I see you're also friends with my sister. Are you...Blake and Yang?". "No that's the rest of her team, we're from a different team." Jason said. "In fact, Weiss actually saved our lives.". "Long story short," Matt began to say, "they found us in the Emerald Forest, we had no memory, and now we're hunters...so...yeah!". "Well, I thank you all for taking an interest in my sister." Winter said. "Oh, yes, of course. The honour is in my...court.". "You have no idea what you're talking about, do you?" Jason asked Ruby, while all she could do was give a nervous chuckle. "I have business to attend, but since I am early, why don't I go to your living quarters?" Winter suggested. At this point, Winter and Weiss began to walk off, leaving Matt, Jason, and Ruby behind them. "I will...reconvene with you both at a later...juncture!" Ruby began to say, but was interrupted by Matt. "Just stop Ruby, they can't hear you anymore.".

Jason, Matt, and Ruby began to make their way back to their rooms, when a huge circle of people was spotted in the center of the courtyard. They all ran to see what the commotion was about, and saw Winter attacking some man who was fighting back with some form of sword. "Weiss!" Ruby yelled out as they all made their way to her. "What's going on?" Jason asked. "Some crazy guy just started attacking my sister!" Weiss responded. "Oh no!" Ruby said, sounding worried. "Who would do such a th-aaaaat's my uncle!". "Your uncle?" Matt asked. "Yup!" Ruby responded, which was followed up by "Kick her butt, Uncle Qrow!".

Qrow and Winter kept on clashing back and forth, neither of them letting up from their assault. Qrow finally made a bigger push, only for Winter to dodge, and attacked back using the hilt of her dueling saber hitting Qrow directly on his face. Qrow gave a quick smirk as he readied his weapon for a heavy attack. Winter reacted by creating a glyph, and launched herself in the air as Qrow's sword slammed on the ground, breaking the area around him. Qrow chased after Winter but she dodged, making him slice a lamppost in half. Winter flipped in front continuing her assault, and waited for Qrow to attack again. Qrow sliced, only for Winter to do a backflip and land on the sword, and kicked him in the head, sending herself away from him.

Winter landed on the side of a building, and began to run up the side. "She's fast…" Jason mentioned, complementing Winter's skills. Qrow let his blade tilt forward, before firing two shotgun blasts at Winter before launching himself up on the opposing buildings. Qrow continued firing shots at Winter until everything near where Winter stood went up in smoke. Winter then launched out, and revealed a dual sword from inside her original. Winter was now going at Qrow with full speed, only for him to block her attack, breaking the building beneath them, and launching them both to the ground. They continued going back and forth, trading blows before they knocked each other back. Qrow prepared his weapon again, but had a huge smile on his face, showing he was enjoying the fight. "I like this guy!" Matt exclaimed, "He enjoys fighting almost as much as I do!". Ruby responded with "Well he's my Uncle! That's probably why I have my fighting spirit!" as they continued to watch the fight.

Qrow prepared his weapon again, only for Winter to prepare a glyph, which summoned a flock of ice birds which charged directly at him. Qrow launched a shockwave from his sword directly at Winter, stopping her concentration, getting rid of the ice birds. Winter began charging up another glyph, which gave Qrow enough time to adjust his weapon, making it get a little longer. Half-way through the adjustment, Qrow put his weapon back, keeping in its original form. He gave Winter a little smile, before moving his finger in a way to tell Winter to come at him with everything she had.

Winter charged forward directly at Qrow, until she was interrupted while a few inches away from Qrow's neck. "Schnee!" A man known as General Ironwood yelled. Winter's face turned to shock as she looked behind her, and noticed the General with Penny behind him. "General Ironwood, sir!". "What in the world do you think you're doing?" Ironwood asked. "He started the altercation, sir." Winter responded, but Qrow got in a relaxed position and said "That's actually not true, she attacked first.". "Is that right?" Ironwood asked, only for Matt to run out and stand between Qrow and Winter. "Qrow was attacked!" Matt yelled out, only for Qrow to give him a questioning look. "And how do you know my name?" Qrow asked, only for Matt to give a nervous laugh as he pointed over towards Ruby. "Ah, alright. So you know my niece.".

"You." the General said as he made his way to Qrow. "What are you doing here?". "I could be asking you the same thing." Qrow responded. Ironwood was about to respond before he was cut off by Professor Ozpin, as he told everyone that if they wanted to watch a fight, replays of the earlier matches are still available. "Let's go." Ironwood ordered Winter as they followed Ozpin. Qrow was watching them walk off until he heard screeching, "UNCLE QROW!". Ruby launched herself onto Qrow's arm as he lifted, lifting her off the ground as well. "Hi." Ruby said. "It's so good to see you! Did you miss me? Did you miss me!?". Qrow got a huge grin on his face as he answered "Nope!" before he began to shake about Ruby's hair. Ruby was quickly dropped as Ozpin said "Qrow. A word, please.". "I think I'm in trouble." Qrow whispered over to Matt and Ruby. "Thanks for trying to bail me out kid, what's your name?". "The name's Matt." Matt responded. "Matt, huh? I'll remember your name. Catch ya later, kids." Qrow said as he walked towards Ozpin.

"Well...that was something." Jason said as he and Weiss walked over. "How dare you stand up for that mad man!" Weiss yelled at Matt. "Hey, I did what I thought was right." Matt responded, still getting glares from Weiss, until she turned towards Ruby, "And suddenly your recklessness makes sense.". "Look, as fun as it was with all of...this," Jason said as he looked around the destroyed courtyard, "we still have some matches tomorrow. Me and Matt are gonna hit the hay. We'll see you tomorrow.". Jason walked off leaving Matt with Ruby and Weiss. "What's gotten into him?" Weiss asked. "I think it has something to do with Mia." Matt responded. "He hasn't seen her in awhile, and is probably worrying about her. I'll go keep him company. I'll see you guys tomorrow.". Matt began to chase after Jason, as everyone made their way back to their rooms, preparing for another day of the tournaments.


	26. Chapter 26 - Pieces Fall into Place

**Chapter 26 - Pieces Fall into Place**

The next day, Matt, Jason, and all other members who were in the tournament were asked to meet in the waiting room for the fifth time. Matt looked over his shoulder and noticed Emerald and Mercury watching a video of Matt taking on Cardin, showing the first time he ever used his semblance. "You know," Matt said as he tapped Emerald on the shoulder, "I don't like to use that, even if it look badass." Matt gave a little grin at his own praise. "You're semblance is powerful." Mercury replied. "I wouldn't like to go up against it." Emerald added as she gave a small smirk towards Mercury. "So, what are your semblances?" Jason asked, but was interrupted by, "Ladies and gentlemen," everyone heard coming from the arena, "the next fighters are Mercury and Emerald from Haven.". "Wait, but you already went against Coco and Yatsuhashi?" Jason asked, but then heard, "Versus, Matt and Jason of Beacon!". "But they shouldn't be fighting agai-" Jason was cut off by Matt. "Hurry up! We need to be out now!".

As they all made their way out, Matt and Jason were whispering to each other. "We need to be careful," Matt began, "I know we went flawless in our four-on-four matches, but these two took on Coco and Yatsuhashi.". "Speaking of which," Jason began to say, "shouldn't they already have gone through?". "I'm not sure. Either way, we should enjoy the fight." Matt replied, as he looked up at team RWBY, team CFVY, and team JNPR, giving them all a short wave. "What's the plan?" Jason asked. "You're on Mercury. He's up-close, so just stick with range until he gets annoyed, then rush him with combo's. I'm gonna distract Emerald until you take down Mercury, then we can take her down together.". Jason and Matt pounded each other's fists, knowing that they had trust in their plan. Suddenly, the arena began to change, making one half of the arena into Emerald Forest, while another half became Forever Fall forest. "3! 2! 1,". Jason looked over to Matt. "Let's do this, partner.". "Begin!".

Matt charged straight for Emerald, while Jason took a step back, and fired two arrows. One at Emerald to stop her from attacking first, and another at Mercury. Jason continued to fire arrows, all of different elements to catch him off guard. He fired two more arrows before Jason had to move into the Emerald Forest, and use the trees as cover to get away from Mercury. Mercury was hot on Jason's tail, until suddenly hard-electrical wires tripped up Mercury, and suddenly Jason was gone from sight, leaving Mercury to be cautious with every step he takes.

Meanwhile, Matt was taking on Emerald in the Forever Fall forest, both attacking each other head on. Emerald continued to fire her revolvers from afar, while Matt kept on dodging, but still got hit by a few. As Matt got closer, Emerald activated her sickle function of her weapon, making close combat easier for her. Emerald attempted a slice on Matt as he ran closer, only for him to slide down underneath her legs, and punched her legs, making her drop. While she began to drop, Matt grabbed Emerald's head and slammed it into the ground, giving Matt enough time to stand up and prepare for any counter attack. Emerald quickly jumped back up, and began attacking furiously, slicing Matt over and over again.

Eventually, Matt knew his aura was going to drop, so he fired his gauntlets towards the ground, giving him some time in the air. Emerald began to launch her weapon at Matt, with the grip still in her hands as the chains released the sickles. Matt grabbed onto the sickles, and pulled, forcing Emerald to him. Matt then punched Emerald directly in the jaw, launching her out of the ring. "That was...easier than expected." Matt said to himself, as he remembered Emerald and Mercury defeating half of team CFVY. "Maybe I'm just better than I thought!" Matt exclaimed, giving himself a little smirk as he saw a blast in the distance, and ran off to find Jason and aid in his fight.

Jason was hiding in the trees, with eyes on Mercury. Every few seconds, he would fire an arrow towards Mercury, while switching positions. "Enough…" Mercury said to himself as he began to spin in a freestyle fashion. He began to fire, creating a freak tornado of blasts. 'How long could he do that?' Jason thought, as he began to fire ice arrows into the center, causing Mercury to slip, breaking apart the tornado. Jason jumped down, and switched into his dual swords, and engaged Mercury in a fight. Mercury began with a roundhouse kick, only for Jason to dodge, and immediately counter attacked. Both were fighting back and forth, until Mercury let out a little laugh. "What's so funny?" Jason asked, as he turned around and saw Matt, staring where Jason was, and began to clench his fists.

-Matt's POV-

Matt watched as a spiral of shots came to an end, and new that was where the rest of the fight was taking place. When he finally got there, he noticed something very odd. Where the shots were coming from, was now, "Cardin?" Matt asked. Cardin turned around and smiled. "How the hell are you in here?" Matt continued to ask. Matt took another step closer, and noticed Cardin was standing on something, or someone. Matt struggled to see who it was at first, until he saw the hair. "Velvet?". Matt was struggling to comprehend what he was seeing. 'There's no way they're both in here.' Matt thought to himself. 'But how the hell are they in here?'. Suddenly, Cardin began to kick Velvet, over and over again, getting little whimpers out of her. "Velvet!" Matt yelled out, as his hair began to change into fully purple. "Great timing!" He yelled out, with his voice vibrating with anger, as his hair began to glow purple, showing his semblance was activated. Matt launched himself over, and let out all of his anger in one punch. He hit as hard as he could, but suddenly, just as he hit, Cardin suddenly turned into Jason, and Velvet disappeared.

-Jason's POV-

"Velvet?" Jason asked Matt, when suddenly he noticed Matt's hair change. 'Well this anger could help…' Jason thought, when suddenly, Matt hit Jason with more power than he had ever seen, which immediately sent him out of the ring, and lowered his aura to one, while Mercury just looked at the two.

-3rd Person POV-

"JASON!" Matt yelled as he realised he had just hit his friend. Matt chased Jason to where he had hit him, only to see him out of the ring. 'Screw it!' Matt thought to himself, as he jumped out of the ring as well, to check on Jason, which also forfeited the match. Jason was still conscious, but barely. "What was that about?" Jason asked in anger as Matt approached. "I-I-I thought I saw Cardin?". "Cardin!?" Jason asked. "Why would he be in here during our match?". "I don't know, I just saw him attacking Velvet!" Matt tried to respond. "You know I wouldn't have activated my semblance unless it was serious!". Suddenly, Atlas soldiers ran in, and began to escort Matt out of the arena, and Jason to a medical bay. Even though Jason wasn't seriously injured, they thought that it would be a good idea to check for a concussion. While Matt was being escorted off, he saw a tape being played of him hitting Jason directly in the face, while Matt said to himself "That's not what happened…".


	27. Chapter 27 - Monsters of Mayhem

**Chapter 27 - Monsters of Mayhem**

The following day was tough for Matt. Being kicked out of the tournament was difficult enough, but knowing that he hurt his closest friend was soul crushing. Jason was left to recover in the medical bay, while Matt was staying in their room, but one question crossed everyone's mind, "So, why'd you do it, kid?" a croaky voice came from inside his room. "Qrow?" Matt asked, "How long have you been in here?". "That's not important, for now, I'll ask again, why'd you do it?". "I've already told everyone what happened, but no one believes me." Matt responded. "Well maybe that's because the hundreds of videos showing you attacking your partner says you might not be trustworthy." Qrow said, as he pulled up his scroll.

"Have you seen any of the matches today?" Qrow asked, changing the subject. "After what happened, I haven't been in much of a mood to watch anything else." Matt replied. "Well right now," Qrow began to say, "Yang is taking on Mercury, and considering how close your weapon styles are, you could learn a few things. Yang's semblance also runs off anger, maybe she can teach you a few things.". Qrow began to bring the match up on the television. The match was halfway through, and Mercury just used his tornado technique to bring Yang to the very edge of her aura. "Yang's tough, but she doesn't let her anger take control." Qrow said as he admired her, "Whenever she activates her semblance, it's to try and win, not because she get's a bit pissed off.". Yang then unleashed her semblance, and struck Mercury over and over again, until he finally gave way, and his aura reached zero. "That's what makes a real huntress. Determination. I know that you're not as used to fighting as much as other hunters and huntresses, Yang and Ruby told me about you and Jason. But right now, you need to look up to someone, and find your path, maybe even Yang.". "You know something, Qrow," Matt began to say, "when I first started here, I always had a dream that I would be some sort of hero. That'd I'd be someone that people would look up to, but even now, when I do anything, I look like a monster. When I try protecting people, I look like a monster! Even the first time I used my semblance... " Qrow was listening carefully, and then asked Matt a question. "Well, what are you? Are you good, or are you bad?". Matt responded immediately, "I want to be good!" He pleaded, "I just- No matter how hard I try, it always backfires. I'm not good, but I'm not bad, I'm just...dirty.". "Dirty, huh?" Qrow responded. "That's a new way to put it…".

Qrow began to drink some alcohol, until he looked back at the screen, and saw Yang attack Mercury again while he was defenseless. Qrow immediately spat his drink out and stared in shock. "You've got to be kidding me…" Qrow said to himself, while Matt was still staring at the screen. "Get to Yang's room, we're all gonna have a discussion, until then, just think about what I've said.". "Alright, just make sure that Yang's alright, something's not right..." Matt said as he began to leave the room.

Jason was still watching the match from the medical room, and witnessed the terrible accident. "Y-Yang…" Jason said to himself, looking at the replays of Yang attacking Mercury, until the camera's were turned off. Jason was sat, thinking to himself until Qrow ran past with General Ironwood and team RWBY, including Yang. "We need ya, kid. Think you can walk?" Qrow asked. "I'll be fine, just lead the way." Jason responded, as he walked along side Weiss, who seemed to still be in shock.

Jason had just reached team RWBY's room, and walked in, only to see Matt waiting in there. "What're you doing here?" Jason asked, only for Matt to reply with "I could ask you the same question.". "Are you gonna try and attack me again?" Jason questioned. Matt yelled out "You know I didn't do it on purpose!". "Enough!" General Ironwood stopped the argument. "Right now, we aren't here for you two, but we're also here for Yang as well.". "Come on, guys." Ruby said with a friendly tone. "Let's all just talk this out."

"I'm sorry," General Ironwood began to say. "But you've left us with no choice.". "But he attacked me!" Yang argued. "Video footage and millions of viewers say otherwise." Ironwood replied, only for Matt to respond, "He's right Yang. Although I do genuinely believe what you're saying, especially after…" Matt looked at Jason, "everything else that's happened, too many people have seen it.". "But Yang would never do that!" Weiss said, only for Jason to respond. "Well we thought Matt wouldn't do what he did, but it happened. Either way, what Yang did might have been a mistake, and what Matt did...could've been as well.". Matt looked at Jason, and gave him a nod of appreciation. "It still hurt like hell though." Jason added giving Matt a little chuckle.

"Look," General Ironwood began, "you all seem like good students. And the staff here at Beacon are fully aware that you would never lash out the way you did. But I believe, and hope this to be, that this is nothing more than the result of stress and adrenaline, on both accounts. When you're on the battlefield, your judgement can be clouded in an instant. Sometimes you see things that simply aren't there.". "But I-" Yang tried to argue but Ironwood yelled back, "That's enough! The sad truth is...whether it was an accident, or an assault…it doesn't matter. The world saw you attack an innocent student. They've already drawn their own conclusions. And it's my job to inform you that...Yang has been disqualified.". Everyone in the room looked down in disappointment, especially Yang and Matt, knowing that they didn't mean to do anything wrong. General Ironwood then left the room, leaving everyone behind, except for Qrow, who Ironwood needed.

"You guys believe me, right?" Yang asked, which Matt immediately responded "Absolutely, all the way.". Ruby replied with "Duh!" while Weiss said "You're hot headed, but not ruthless.". "It's been a rough few days…" Jason responded, "But I believe you.". "Blake?" Yang asked, looking towards Blake. "I want to believe you." Blake replied, which Weiss snapped back with "What's that supposed to mean?". Yang began to get upset, and looked away from everyone. "How can you say something like that?" Weiss questioned. "Yang would never lie to us!". Blake let out a sigh, and began to tell a story.

"I had someone very dear to me change. It wasn't in an instant, it was gradual… Little choices began to pile up. He told me not to worry. At first, they were accidents, then it was self-defense. Before long, even I began to think he was right. This is all just...very...familiar. But you're not him, and you've never done anything like this before. So, I want to trust you, the pair of you." Blake looked at both Matt and Yang. "I WILL trust you. But first, I need you both to look me in the eyes, and tell me what happened. I want you to promise me you regret doing what you had to do.". Yang began by saying "I saw him attack me, so I attacked back.". Then everyone looked towards Matt, to which he responded with "I saw Velvet in trouble, I attacked, and Jason was suddenly in front of me.". "Alright. Thank you.". "I'm gonna rest up." Yang said, as everyone made their way out of the room. "I think I'll do the same." Matt replied, as Jason responded, "And I'm gonna get back to the room.". They left Yang in her room, as Matt and Jason went back to theirs, and watched as fighters were selected for the next match.


	28. Chapter 28 - Realisation of Horror

**Chapter 28 - Realisation of Horror**

"You know…" Matt began to say breaking the silence, "I said I was sorry.". Jason snapped back "I know what you said, but it still hurt pretty bad!". Matt looked down in shame, before saying "I assume you're fine then, since you're not in the medical room anymore.". "I still have a headache, but other than that, nothing else. You're lucky nothing happened to me, or I would've killed you." Jason said as he gave Matt a death glare before laughing. "Well," Matt said, "I'm just glad you're not seriously hurt.".

Jason quickly changed the subject, "So do you think Yang will be fine?". "To be honest, I don't know." Matt responded. "I've never seen her this upset before...but she's tough, I know this will all blow over.". Jason finally found the channel on the television which was showing Penny and Pyrrha getting selected for the next match. "That's gonna be a helluva fight!" Jason exclaimed, as Matt turned away. "Ever since...what happened, I haven't watched a match.". Jason looked at Matt in shock, "Look, what happened was an accident, you thought you saw something, and took action. What you did was what any hunter or huntress would do.". "I suppose…" Matt responded.

"Now that you mention it," Matt began to say, "even Coco thought that she saw something when she was in her 2v2s.". "What do you mean?" Jason asked, "She's an overly experienced fighter!". "That's what Velvet told me." Matt replied, "Coco says she saw Yatsu with her in the forest while fighting Emerald and Mercury, but he claims he never made it out of the geyser fields.".

"That's...interesting." Jason said, as he thought about what could have happened. "Wait, that means that three times when Emerald and Mercury's team went to fight, someone claims they saw something different.". "I suppose so…" Matt said, until a he looked up at Jason and knew what he was thinking. "You don't think-" Matt said until Jason cut him off, knowing what he was going to say, "It could be one of their semblances to cause hallucinations! But who, and why would they do this.". Matt responded, "Well, they might just want to win the tournament by cheating, and it can't be Emerald. I had my hallucination after I beat her.". "But that's a reason why it could be her." Jason said, leaving a confused look on his face.

"You said that you beat Emerald easily, but Coco found it difficult to fight her. That could mean she let you beat her so she could concentrate on her hallucinations.". Matt now looked like the worlds biggest question had been answered, until a gloomy look came over him. "But why me?". "Because you were vulnerable." Jason replied, "They watched the video of you using your semblance to defend others, and put it against you.".

"We need to tell Professor Ozpin about this now!" Matt exclaimed. "Alright, but incase either of them try to stop us or anything, I need to give you something." Jason picked two identical items out of his pocket. "These are dust converters that will fit your gauntlets. Weiss helped me make it, so it'll be reliable. It's similar to what Weiss gave Blake. It can help in different scenarios, and unless you select it, you'll still cause explosions with your blast. Just don't let it go to waste.". "Thanks." Matt said, until he suddenly said, "Wait, how do I know this isn't just a hallucination?". Jason then hit Matt over the head, not hard enough to do significant damage, but enough for Matt to feel it. "Hey!" Matt yelled out. "I thought you forgave me!". Jason gave a smirk. "You felt pain. A hallucination can't do that.". Suddenly, Matt and Jason's scroll alarms went off, showing that they both received messages from Ruby, and said it together. "COLOSSEUM! NOW! MERCURY AND EMERALD BOTH HERE! HELP!". Matt and Jason looked at each other, and began to run out of the room towards the colosseum.

As they arrived on a Bullhead, Jason pulled out his scroll, and saw Pyrrha and Penny fighting, until Matt noticed Pyrrha looking scared, and unleashing a huge amount of energy, launching Penny's weapons back, and ripping her apart. "She was a...robot?" Jason asked, with tears in his eyes. Suddenly, a speech was being played through the device, and a woman was claiming that no one could trust any of the headteachers from the academy's. "She can't be right, can she?" Jason asked, until an alarm was heard all around. "Emergency. Incoming Grimm attack. Threat level: Nine.". Matt looked at Jason and said, "This was Emerald and Mercury's plan, and we're all too late…".


	29. Chapter 29 - Separation of Simple Souls

**Chapter 29 - Separation of Simple Souls**

In a matter of seconds, the platforms were full of people trying to get off. "What do we do?" Matt asked Jason. "We need to find Ruby to start with!" Jason replied. More ships began to arrive, some getting people onboard immediately, while some didn't open. "What're you doing!?" yelled the panicking people, until when the doors did open, members of the White Fang jumped out, and released Grimm, creating even more panic among everyone. "We're gonna have to find Ruby later, we need to clear out these Grimm!" Matt said, as Jason immediately raced towards some alpha Beowolfs. Matt looked at Jason with proudness of him showing no fear, and then went to take his role of defeating the White Fang.

Jason ran headfirst and slashed twice at the legs of an alpha Beowolf, instantly crippling it. Jason used his momentum to to run up a wall, and launch himself directly into the air, and rain arrows from above. The alpha was still alive, but barely. It began to crawl towards other Grimm, until Jason landed on its body, and put one of his swords through its skull. "This is gonna be a good fight." Jason said to himself as he began a confrontation between a mass number of Creeps.

Matt was looking around, and noticed multiple members of the White Fang all around. 'I can't get to all of them…' Matt thought to himself, until Atlas robots began to come from some of the Bullheads. "Oh hell yes!" Matt exclaimed as he ran into the biggest group of White Fang members, knowing that the robots would deal with the smaller groups. As Matt ran towards the group, he began to feel his adrenaline pump, and excitement was filling him with some sort of crazy feeling. Matt thought to himself 'This...this is the feeling I need…'.

Matt got the attention of the group by yelling "Hey!". All members turned around to see Matt, who had was waiting for them to attack. Matt had his head facing down, and slowly looked up, revealing a grin which most would have thought that it had to belong to someone that went crazy or insane. Matt felt the rush flowing through his body, until he realised what happened to him. He never had the chance to go crazy when he used his semblance, so it built up, until his adrenaline pumped again, meaning he was as crazy than he had ever been. Matt suddenly launched in the air, and yelled "You think that man in the sky is God? THAT MOTHERFUCKER OWES ME RENT!" and before anyone could react, he slammed his fist on the ground, wiping out the majority of the members.

Immediately, all but one member ran. The one member, extremely fat, had pig ears, was wearing a different but similar mask than other White Fang members, and was holding some sort of shotgun in one hand, and a hook in the other. "What the fucking hell are you?" Matt yelled in disgust at the appearance of the pig faunus, before he even realised it could be classed as offensive. "I'm a one-man apocalypse!" the big faunus yelled. "Really?" Matt asked. "I just caused the apocalypse on those guys, so what can you do?". As Matt finished the sentence, shotgun shells were sent his way, but spread out too easily, leaving Matt unscathed. "What'cha gonna do?" Matt taunted as he danced. His celebration was short lived until a hook grabbed him, and dragged him right into the faunus. Matt looked at the faunus face-to-face, until he began to grin again and said "Dude, are you sponsored?". The faunus looked confused, but before he could react, Matt uppercutted him, which launched him in the air, knocking him out instantly. Matt looked around, and noticed that around him everyone was busy, but were doing their jobs, meaning Matt went back to normal, stopping his adrenaline.

Matt and Jason met up after their fights, and both witnessed General Ironwood go toe-to-toe against an alpha Beowolf, but this one was different. It was even bigger than any others, and would prove a challenge to anyone. They both charged at each other, and Ironwood slid underneath it, revealing his handgun which he fired multiple times, before they both turned around again and clashed. Ironwood stopped a slice from the Beowolf with a single hand, and shot an explosive round under the Grimm's foot making it lose ballance. Ironwood slammed the Grimm into the ground, before lifting it up, and firing a shot into its head, killing it instantly. "I need to become like that!" Matt exclaimed. Jason looked at him and said "Did you see what you just did?". They both looked over at where the pig faunus was, but he had disappeared.

As Matt and Jason started to walk into the stadium, they saw Ruby, along with multiple other students, including all of team JNPR, team CFVY, team SSSN, and team ABRN. "What's going on?" Ruby asked both team MJ and General Ironwood. "Grimm are crawling all over the city." Ironwood informed. "The White Fang has invaded Beacon and to make matters worse, some...vagabond has seized my ship. Until we regain command, the skies are out of our control. So I'm...going to take it back.". Everyone watched as Ironwood walked onto his awaiting Bullhead, until Jaune asked "What should we do?". The General turned around, and said "You have two choices: Defend your kingdom and your school, like these two have already have…". Everyone looked towards Matt and Jason, and saw on Matt's side was tons of knocked out White Fang members, and on Jason's side was Grimm that were already beginning to decay. General Ironwood continued, "Or save yourselves. No one will fault you if you leave.".

As Ironwood left, everyone boarded the nearest Bullhead, but Nora asked, while pointing towards the unconscious White Fang members, "What happened to those guys?". Everyone looked at Matt, and he responded with "My wolf fighting spirit was unleashed!". Everyone stared at him with a confused look, until he said, sounding defeated, "What? I love wolves…". Velvet cleared her throat, getting Matt's attention, to which he quickly followed up with "B-b-but not as much as I love bunnies…". Velvet sighed, before giving a slight smile and said "I'm a rabbit faunus, not a...bunny." Matt realised his mistake, and quickly said "But they're both cute.", which made Velvet giggle.

As everyone boarded the Bullhead, it wasn't long until General Ironwood's ship blew up, causing Ruby to run towards the back of the ship. Matt and Jason followed, and Ruby jumped off, and only just making it back to the platforms. "Jason, you need to follow her!" Matt yelled, but Jason responded with "I'm fast, but not that fast! There's no way I can make that jump.". Matt gave a sigh, and waited until the Bullhead landed, letting everyone off to take on the Grimm.

As they landed, Matt and Jason noticed Weiss, Blake, and other hunters and huntresses destroying Atlas Military equipment. "What the hell is going on?" Jason asked, until he saw a massive machine, similar to the one he, Matt, and team RWBY had destroyed before, attacking other members of Atlas. A ship suddenly came crashing down, leaving an alpha Beowolf on the ground, on the opposite end of the giant mech. Matt and Jason saw Weiss and Blake split up, with Blake going after the Beowolf, and Weiss after the mech. "Dammit…" Matt said, as Jason followed Blake. "Stay safe!" Jason yelled towards Matt. "You too!" Matt replied, and Matt took chase after Weiss. As Jason got close to the building Blake ran near, he began to feel the floor shaking. He looked over towards other hunters and huntresses, seeing them all stumbling from the tremors. Matt did the same, until everyone set their attention towards Mountain Glenn. "What! The! Hell!" Matt and Jason said in unison, as Mountain Glenn began to crumble, and a giant Dragon Grimm broke out, and immediately charged for Vale, while pieces of an acidic substance dropped out of it, making more Grimm appear. Matt and Jason both continued to make their way towards their foes, but they both still had their eyes on the Dragon, which was getting closer and closer to the city.


	30. Chapter 30 - Battle Scars

**Chapter 30 - Battle Scars that Never Fade**

As Jason ran around the corner, he saw Blake talking to a man wearing a White Fang mask, and a red and black suit. "Running away again?" the man in red asked. "Is that what you've become, my love?". Jason overheard this and began to repeat what he heard in his head over and over again. 'My love…', who is this guy?' Jason thought to himself.

"Why are you doing this?" Blake asked, only for the mysterious figure to say "You and I were going to change the world, remember? We were destined to light the fires of revolution!". He then stomped his foot on a passed out civilian, and said "Consider this the spark." As he drew his sword and began to strike down. Blake intercepted the attack, and yelled "I'm not running, Adam!". Jason chased after both of them, only for him to get surrounded by Grimm once he entered the building. "Who's this then?" Adam asked, but Blake only responded with "Jason! Run!".

Blake let her guard down, and was kicked back, where a Grimm nearly attacked her, only for Adam to kill it first. "Do you want her dead or not?" Jason asked, as he started to slay other Grimm. "I want my queen to live, but not before she suffers for her betrayal!". Blake got into a clash with Adam, while Jason was still busy taking on waves of Beowolfs. "This could have been our day!" Adam began to say, "Can't you see that!?". Blake snapped back, "I never wanted this. I wanted equality! I wanted peace!". Blake fired shots directly at Adam, which he blocked easily.

As Matt ran after Weiss, he immediately saw everyone in the courtyard, taking on Grimm and Atlas robots, including the mech. Weiss was dancing around the battlefield, creating glyphs to keep up speed, until she finally was knocked off balance, and sent to the ground. Matt even witnessed Yatsuhashi getting pushed back by the giant robot. "This is not good…" Matt sighed as he ran into to help everyone.

Nora and Ren were knocked out immediately, leaving Coco to get the mechs attention. Matt ran over to her and Velvet, and asked what they should do. "Well," Coco began, "There's no other time for it!" as she looked towards Velvet. "Really?" Velvet asked. Coco nodded her head, and said to Matt, "Just stay out of her way.". Everyone took a step back, and Velvet slowly walked up to two giant mechs.

"What are you doing?" Weiss asked, after recovering. "She's going to get hurt!". "Just watch." Coco responded, while Matt stood by Weiss and whispered "I do not have a damn clue what she's doing…" making Weiss sigh "You've got to be kidding me…".

Velvet opened her hand, and a hologram slowly began to fill her hand. "Is that-" Weiss began to say until she was cut off by Matt yelling "Crescent Rose!". Velvet launched herself into the air, and began to use her semblance to mimic Ruby's moves. Velvet slammed on the ground, slicing the mech, and switched to Weiss' Myrtenaster. "How did you…" Weiss began to question, until she just smiled knowing that Velvet was likely to be able to handle this fight.

Velvet parried an attack, making the mech become unbalanced. Velvet launched an assault, and switched weapons, changing to Ember Celica, and slammed her fist directly into the bot, and jumped off it, firing explosions from a range. Velvet began to dodge, and switched to Gambol Shroud, before letting the mech hit her, only for Velvet to spin around its legs, and pulling, making the mech fall to the ground in defeat.

The second one attempted to attack Velvet from behind, only for her to block, slicing off the mechs hand, and throwing Gambol Shroud at the head of the robot. Shots were then fired at the mech as Velvet changed her weapon to Coco's. The mech launched an attack, which was deflected as Velvet switched to Sun's staff, and then jumped in the air, changed to Nora's hammer, and slammed onto the head of the bot.

Velvet now created Penny's swords, and began slicing over and over again, destroying both arms, and a leg. The crippled robot was now left defenseless, as Velvet charged up a beam, just like Penny did down at the docks, and fired, destroying it. Velvet now left her guard down, and was punched by the first bot, knocking her out. "Velvet!" Coco yelled out, as everyone turned towards Matt, and saw his hair flashing with purple.

After a few seconds, Matt's hair went into its second stage. "That didn't get you to your last stage?" Weiss asked, feeling like all hope was lost. "Hey!" Matt replied, "I used it at full power less than a day ago, it's going to take a bit more than that!" Matt explained, making Coco sigh. "But," Matt continued, "I can feel my last stage on the brink. Just say something to make me slightly angry and it should work.". Weiss began to think about what she could say, until she remember one of Matt's favourite things. "Food!" Weiss exclaimed, as she whispered into Matt's ears, "If you don't beat this, you're not getting your favourite foods again. It's going to...destroy them...yeah!" Weiss said, proud of her quick thinking.

Matt began to crack his knuckles, until he yelled out "YOU WILL NEVER TAKE AWAY MY PIZZA!". Coco looked at Weiss, and facepalmed at the fact that he got angrier at the thought of his food being destroyed, than Velvet being harmed. Matt immediately took charge, and slammed his fist into the side of the bot, making it move back a few feet. The mech retaliated, and kicked Matt, sending him into the air. Matt began to activate the Dust Converter Jason gave to him, selecting ice, and fired down from above, freezing the bots legs in place. Matt slammed down with all of his force, leaving a huge dent in the top right of it's head.

The bot let out a second attack, which Matt blocked, but still pushed him back. Matt fired an electric shot, making it short out for a few moments. Matt let out a huge assault while the bot was wide open, dealing as much damage as he could. Matt didn't realise the mech had rebooted, and it slammed its fist directly into Matt's head, launching him back, and slamming him next to Velvet, knocking him out cold.

"Matt!" screamed Weiss, as she looked around in frustration. Everyone began to fire their weapons, as Weiss used her glyphs to speed herself up. As she was running, a huge glyph was summoned from behind her. As Weiss made it to both Matt and Velvet she blocked, protecting them with her life. It wasn't until she didn't feel any pain, she looked up and saw she had summoned a giant sword, which blocked the robot from any attacks. Weiss began to control the arm, and sliced through it, completely destroying it in one slice. "Matt!" Velvet yelled out, as Weiss ran over. Once they looked at him, they both noticed a slice on the top right of his head that went towards the center of his eyebrows. The second Weiss saw it, she knew it that it will surely leave a scar.

"What you want is impossible!" Adam replied to the faunus, as he slapped her, sending her to the ground. "Blake! Hang in there!" Jason yelled, but he was still busy dealing with the Grimm. "But I understand." Adam said, "Because all I want...is you, Blake." as he kicked her weapon out of her hand, leaving her defenceless. Jason then fired an arrow towards Adam, but he easily blocked it, making him irritated. "We're trying to have a moment here!" Adam yelled out in anger, only for Jason to reply with, "You can't have her!". Jason unleashed an unholy amount of electricity, frying all of the Grimm in the area, and getting the attention of a certain blonde haired girl.

Adam still had his sights on Blake, and stood over her while saying "As I set upon this world and deliver the justice mankind so greatly deserves... I will make it my mission to destroy everything you love.". "Jason!" Yang yelled out, happy to see her friend was fine. "Starting with them!" Adam said as he looked towards both Jason and Yang. "Where's Blake?" Yang asked Jason, while he pointed towards Adam, who had his sword impaling Blake. "Get away from her!" Yang yelled as she activated her semblance, and charged directly for him. Adam swiped last second, and sent Yang into the air, and her arm slowly fell off from her body.

"YAAAANG!" Jason yelled at the top of his lungs, as his body began to flow with electricity. "There's nothing you can do!" Adam yelled, as he prepared his next attack on Yang. Adam went to take a swipe, but was knocked off his feet. He turned around, and saw Jason was gone. Yang was still lying on the ground, and he made another assault, only for him to be hit again. He looked around, and noticed electricity was still around. "So you want to play games, huh?" Adam asked, which was met by Jason rushing in the room. "You're gonna be a dead man." Jason yelled, as he began to run circles around him. After a few seconds, Jason stopped, and from all around the room, arrows were fired from every direction. "That's enough!" Adam sliced around the area, breaking all the arrows that were coming towards him. He looked at Yang, who was now in Blake's arms and running away, with Jason following behind, placing electrical traps to try and stop Adam from taking chase.


	31. Chapter 31 - Opposite Paths

**Chapter 31 - Opposite Paths**

As Jason finally got back with a badly hurt Blake, and a passed out Yang, everyone collapsed on the ground from being so exhausted. "This can't be happening…" Jason said to himself, as Weiss and Velvet came over, holding Matt who was knocked out, and dropped him to the ground. "What happened?" Jason asked, but neither of them even knew where to begin. "Weiss!" Was heard from behind them all, and Ruby came running to them. "Ruby!" Weiss exclaimed, "Where have you been?". "Don't worry, I'm fine!" Ruby responded, and then asked "What's going on?". Weiss moved out of Ruby's way, to reveal a scarred Matt, an exhausted Jason, a broken down Nora and Ren, a passed out Yang who had only one arm, and Blake, who was repeatedly saying "I'm so sorry!" as she gripped Yang's arm.

"Everyone's...okay." Jason said, as he looked towards Yang. "At least she's breathing.". Nora looked up and said "We do have one problem, Pyrrha and Jaune are nowhere to be found.". Matt finally began to open his eyes, and said "What can I do to help?". "How long have you been awake?" Weiss asked. "A few minutes…" Matt responded. "I just, have a huge headache." Matt felt his head, and noticed blood was all over, as well as he could feel a cut on his head as well. "You're going to be...scarred…" Weiss said as she let out a sigh. "I-I-" Matt began to stutter, until he shook his head, and found his words. "I'll have to cover that up eventually, until then, let's find Jaune and Pyrrha.". Jason quickly asked "How can you find them? You were just out cold!". "I can stand, right? Until then, I'll search." Matt responded. "We'll find them." Weiss said, as she helped Matt to his feet, and Ruby helped Jason. "Watch after Blake and Yang, we'll be back." Ruby said, as the team of four ran out to find their lost friends.

As Matt, Jason, Weiss, and Ruby searched around the tower, Jason suddenly got a call. "It's Jaune!" he exclaimed, as he answered and put it on speaker. "Where are you?" Weiss asked, only for Jaune to reply with "Weiss! Please you have to stop her!". "What?" Matt asked, and Jaune responded quickly again. "Pyrrha. She's going after that woman...at the top of the tower! She doesn't stand a chance!". Ruby spoke down the scroll "Jaune, where are you?". Jaune yelled back, "Don't worry about me! Please, you have to save her!". "We will!" Matt yelled down the scroll. "Where are you?" Jason asked, only to here Jaune yell out in frustration, and began sobbing.

"We have to get to that tower!" Matt exclaimed, as everyone saw the giant Dragon was circling it. "And how do you propose we do so?" Weiss asked. "I have a plan." Ruby said, as she made her way towards the tower, taking out any Grimm in her way. "And what's that?" Jason asked. "Weiss needs to use her glyphs, I use my speed to run up." Ruby responded bluntly. "I can fire out electrical charges from my gauntlets. It should give Jason enough of a charge for him to run up as well!" Matt responded, while Weiss simply said "You both are very, very, crazy people, you know that?". Jason turned around and said "I've been telling him that the entire time.".

"We've gotta hurry!" Ruby exclaimed, as Weiss began to create glyphs. "Go! I'll hold them off!" Matt said while making his way towards the broken down machine that caused the injury to his head. He noticed a few broken off pieces with blood on, and picked them up as he got swarmed with Grimm. Jason and Ruby got into their running positions. Matt fired multiple electrical shots into the tower, leaving a charge for Jason to borrow. "You're all set." Weiss said, and in an instant, Ruby and Jason ran up the tower, moving at the same pace. Matt and Weiss looked in amazement as they both charged up the tower.

As Ruby and Jason reached the top of the tower, they came across Pyrrha, who was shot in the chest by an arrow, corroding her body into ash, and a woman, wearing a red dress, that also fired the arrow. Ruby began to sob, and then let out a huge cry. Jason was watching the scene unfold, as Ruby began to glow white, and an even whiter glow came out of her eyes, filling the area in pure white. Matt and Weiss looked up at the tower, and saw the huge light. As the light calmed down, they both noticed Jason and Ruby falling from the tower. "NO!" Matt yelled out, as he charged at the tower, using his gauntlets to push him up even more.

As he got closer to them, Qrow jumped out of nowhere, and grabbed Ruby, leaving Matt to deal with Jason. Jason was free-falling, and saw Matt was running up the tower towards him. Matt jumped, and activated his shields, giving Jason a solid surface to land on, allowing Jason to make a safe landing. Matt slammed onto the ground, and let out a huge groan. I felt something pop…" Matt said, as he turned towards Jason. "What happened?" Weiss asked. "Pyrrha...she...she's gone." Jason said, leaving tears in everyone's eyes. "What about the light?" Matt questioned. "Ruby unleashed some sort of...energy. I honestly have no idea what it was.". Qrow walked over, carrying Ruby, and said "Either way, what she did put a stop to that...thing.". Everyone looked up towards the Dragon, which was no longer moving, however it was still attracting Grimm. "For now, we need to get out of here." Qrow continued. "I know a place. It's where Yang and Ruby's dad lives, an island called Patch.".

Matt, Jason, Ren, Nora, and Qrow, who was still holding Ruby, all began to make their way to a Bullhead, until Jason turned around. "Where's Blake?". "I don't know…" Nora said. "Last time I saw them, she was going off somewhere with Sun.". "What about you, Weiss?" Matt asked, only for a Bullhead to land next to her, and a tall man walked out. "Weiss, are you alright." The man asked. "I'm fine...father." Weiss responded, making Qrow responded with "She has her way out, now we need to get ours. Just get on the Bullhead, I'll grab Yang, and get her on. We have a ride ahead of us.". Matt slowly began to walk on with Jason, until he heard Weiss call him over. "So this is the boy that _she_ has been talking so much about?" Weiss' father asked. "Yes." Weiss said. "Jason, I think you should come to Atlas. There's...someone that we think you should see.". Jason looked at them, and then back at Matt, who was helping other people board the ship. "I-I can't just leave them all behind like this." Jason said, but was quickly spoken to by the tall man. "Listen. We don't have much time. But I feel like it will be in your best interest, as well as my daughters, if you come back. You'll be safe, unlike...this place.". Weiss looked down at the thought of her father being right about her staying in Atlas where it was safer.

"What about him?" Jason asked, as he looked over at Matt. Weiss' father looked at him, and said "I don't know who he is, but he seems to already know where he's wants to go. I can promise you one thing, you will be with Weiss when we get to Atlas, and she will help you fit in. But, the choice is yours.". Jason kept on looking back and forth, until he finally decided. "Alright." Jason replied. "I'll go, but I need a few seconds.". Jason then ran over to the ship Matt was on. "What did she need you for?" Matt asked, only to be met by Jason who said, with pure sadness in his eyes, "They both asked me to go to Atlas. They said that someone wanted to see me. They didn't say anything about you, but maybe this person can finally explain why we were both in that cave.". Matt stared down at the ground, and looked up, with a smile on his scarred face. "It's fine. You have to do what you can." Matt's response left Jason in shock. Matt continued, " For now, I have to stick with Ruby, and make sure she doesn't get into anymore trouble. Hopefully Qrow can take me under his wing and teach me about being a better huntsman. Until then, stay safe.". Matt and Jason grabbed each other's arms as a show of respect. "You too." Jason said, as the both walked away, leaving Matt with Ruby, Yang, Jaune, Nora, and Ren, while Jason was being transported with Weiss, and her father. The last thought before Matt and Jason stopped looking at each other was... 'When will I ever see you again?'.


	32. Chapter 32 (J) - Small Souls, Big Impact

**Chapter 32 (Jason) - Small Souls can have Big Impacts**

As Jason and Weiss finally boarded the bullhead, neither of them said a word while they looked at the destruction of Beacon. Jason looking out of the window to only see the entire academy flooded with Grimm. Feeling powerless, Jason gritted his teeth and punched on the side of the bullhead in depression. "Hey! Watch it, that's Schnee property!" yelled Weiss' farther, "I can't help it… I could've stopped this from happening but yet again I'm still weak!" yelled Jason, "No need to bury yourself in senseless things, you will be safe with us." replied the tall man. While Jason anger raised through the words that Weiss' father said 'senseless', he had somewhat managed to contain his anger and calmly looked at Weiss but noticed that she was not happy at the thought of going back home. "I have yet to introduce myself, how rude of me. As you may know by now, I'm the father of Weiss Schnee and owner of the Schnee Dust Company. Jacques Schnee!", "My name is Jason. Jason Leung.". "When you arrive to our home, there is a certain person that is eager to meet you, even at this moment that special person is waiting for our presence!" said Jacques, out of curiosity, "Who is it?" replied Jason. "You'll have to wait and see..." responded Jacques. With the last word given by Jacques, not a single sound was made throughout the entire travel.

Upon the bullhead landing, multiple butlers and maids awaited for their arrival. "Ah, we're here! Come now Jason, I would want to take you to the special person I was talking about.", "Alright…" replied Jason. "Now Weiss, I want you to be in your room until I call for you, I shall leave Klein in your care", "Okay father…" responded Weiss after releasing a long sigh and leaving with Klein. "Now then, we shall proceed to the _special person's_ room." said Jacques, leaving Jason more interested in who the person could be. It had led Jason to believe that this 'special person' may have the answers he's been looking for.

As Jason and Jacques passed through corridors that stretched for what seemed like miles, Jason stopped to admire a painting, "That's… my family... or was should I say." said Jacques, "What do you mean "was"?" replied Jason. "The girl to the left is Winter, she decided to join the Atlesian army instead of taking full rights to the Schnee Dust Company. While I do have high hopes for Weiss, I'm uncertain if she's able to fulfill the role.". "What about the boy?" Jason asked, "He may be the only person I can call family as he listens to his father, as he should, and avoids any conflict and because of that, he may have the potential to inherit the Schnee Dust Company." responded Jacques, "While my wife…" Jacques paused for a brief moment, and then tried to avoid the topic. "But I already have too many failures within the Schnee family, so I decided to come up with a contingency plan.". As the two carried on their walk through the corridors, they had finally stumbled across a door that's different from the rest in terms of size, and colours. The door was black and had curved patterns. Loud sounds could be heard from the door, "That plan was to adopt a girl into our household and make her the one to inherit the Schnee Dust Company if Witley was not suitable.", as Jacques opened the doors, "MIA!" exclaimed Jason while in shock. With Mia looking away from the window, she turned around to Jason's voice. She glared back but within a brief moment, she suddenly became wide eyed but tears started to clump together in her eyes. "JASON!" yelled Mia. She instantly ran towards Jason and threw her frail body towards him. While the two had hugged for minutes, they were unable to let go until finally they get to break their hug within a few moments.

"How- wha- why are you here, Jason?!" shouted Mia in excitement, "Jacques brought me here to see you!" said Jason, "Does that mean you're staying here?" Mia questioned, as Jason turned around to look at Jacques. "Of course he is, we already prepared a room specially for him, but that is if he would want to." stated Jacques. "I'll stay and besides, it doesn't seem that I have anywhere else to go." replied Jason, "Yay!" yelled Mia. "Now I'll leave you a maid to escort you to your room, Jason, I have businesses to attend to.". "Can I come with you Jason?" Mia muttered, "Of course you can." Jason replied.

While Jason and Mia walked with the maid, the maid stopped after cutting through the corner of the corridor and bowed. Jason looking confused, had walked in front of the maid to find a young man, with his chest held high, and gazing at Jason, "Ah, you must be the new comer. Correct?" said the young man. "Jason, is it? My name is Whitley. the son of Jacques. It's a pleasure to meet you." the young man continued, while Mia hid behind Jason. "It's nice to meet you too." replied Jason. "Though I do wish to talk to you, it shall have to wait as my father has summoned me, so until we meet again... Jason…" said Whitley while walking away, the maid then proceeded to take Jason and Mia towards his room.

When the three continued to walk through the corridors, Jason whispered to Mia's ear "What's up, Mia? You look scared when you saw Whitley, is there something wrong?", "I'm not sure… but when I first met Whitley, I had a bad feeling about him. Even now I still don't trust him and I think you shouldn't trust him either." whispered Mia. "Alright, and besides, the only people I can trust is you and Weiss." replied Jason. "So I can trust Ice Queen as well?" said Mia, "Wait, how do you know her nickname?" responded Jason. "Well… there's this one guy that tells me stories about Weiss.", "Who is this guy?" Jason asked, as a butler exited a room. "Klein!" Mia exclaimed while running towards him, she hugged him and yelled at Jason. "This is the guy I was talking about", "Now now, Mia." said Klein. "You must be Jason. I heard a lot about you from Mia. As you heard Mia shout my name, I'm Klein, at your service.". "Don't take this the wrong way but he has a split personality..." said the maid, "Anywho, we're here, this is your room sir, and if you need anything, be sure to ask.".

As the maid showed the door to Jason's room, she walked away, "Well, what a coincidence, might I say! You're a neighbour to Weiss' room!" said Klein in a jolly tone, "We might as well check up on her since we're here". When Jason opened the doors to Weiss' room, she was immediately startled until she saw Jason. "What's up good looking!" shouted Jason, in a joking manner, while Mia hid behind him. "How can you say that! Do you even understand the situation we're in! And who's the person father wanted you to meet anyway!" Weiss continued to moan about Jason until she saw Mia behind him, "What's she doing here!" Weiss yelled, "Long story short, your father adopted her apparently.", "MY FATHER WHAT!" screamed Weiss. "This is too much to take in... why did father do that?". "He said something about Mia becoming the heir to the Schnee Dust Company..." Jason explained. "Wait, so he didn't choose me to become the heir?" Weiss complained, "It's not that Weiss," Jason continued, "he believes that you can inherit the Schnee Dust Company, it's just that he plans to use Mia as some sought of plan to be the one inherit the rights, but that is if you fail to become the rightful owner.". "Jason, I need to talk to you about something. I'm going to tell you everything about the Schnee family and why I went to Beacon instead of Atlas.". As Jason and Mia sat down and listened to Weiss for hours, Klein entered the room "Ermm, sorry to disturb you lot but, ummm, Jacques has requested Weiss' appearance to his office.", "Okay Klein, tell him I'll be a few minutes." said Weiss. "One more thing, Jason", "What's up Weiss" replied Jason, "I'm going to need your help with training, you know… you can create hard lightning, and it might be similar to my summoning Glyphs." Weiss requested. "We can start tomorrow, I need some rest. Be prepared!", "Thanks Jason, I mean it." said Weiss, "No problem, here to help a friend out anytime!" replied Jason. While Weiss left to meet her father, Jason walked Mia back to her room, "Do you mind if I watch you two train together?" Mia questioned, "Of course you can watch, I'll make sure that I'll see you first in the mornin'." Jason answered, leaving Mia with a smile.


	33. Chapter 33 (M) - Beauty in Silver Eyes

**Chapter 33 (Matt) - The Beauty in Silver Eyes**

A few days had passed. Ruby was still unconscious, and Yang was awake, but...not in the mood for a talk, which Matt found out the hard way. Even Yang's dad, Taiyang, couldn't speak to her much, which didn't help with his mood towards Matt. Matt was the only one that was staying in Tai's house, while Jaune, Nora, and Ren were living in a small town nearby. "So, what were you like at Beacon?" Tai asked Matt, while Matt quickly responded with "Well that depends on who you ask. From my point of view, I tried to be the best I could, but considering your daughters are fine with me, they're both good judges of characters, so I think I was a good person.". Throughout all of what Matt said, Tai picked up on one thing, "What do you mean ' _fine'_?". Matt immediately understood that what he said may have sounded...a little odd. "I-I didn't mean it like that!" Matt exclaimed, until they both noticed Ruby shuffling a little.

"Ruby!" Tai yelled as he ran over to her, "You're awake!". "What happened?" Ruby asked, which Matt responded with "It's a long story. Qrow brought us here.", "Matt!" Ruby yelled. Matt walked over to her, and she hugged him, making Tai glare at him. Matt noticed this, and mouthed over "Come on, man. She just woke up.". Tai sighed, knowing that it was making Ruby happy. That was, until, Ruby's eyes went wide and asked, "Wait! Yang! Is she alright?". "Uh, she, uh…" Tai was struggling to find his words, so Matt stepped in, "She's gonna be fine.". Tai glared at Matt for calling his daughter "fine", until he let it pass, knowing Matt was just trying to help Ruby. Tai carried on from where Matt left off, "I think it's just gonna take some time for her to get used to things.". "She's too strong to let this stop her." Matt added. "What about Jason?" Ruby asked, which Tai questioned "Who's Jason?" while glaring at Matt again. Matt said, while looking uncomfortable, "Can...you stop looking at me like that. Jason was my only partner while at Beacon. We were all close, and he...left…". Matt looked back down to the floor, but Ruby noticed his scar. "What happened to you?" She asked. "That-" Matt began to respond, until Tai whispered to her "Ruby, he's...a little sensitive to that.". "No, It's...fine. It happened during a fight at Beacon. But you should have seen the mark I made on it!" Matt exclaimed, trying to joke, but still clearly looked upset at the question.

"What happened to the school?" Ruby asked, "And Vale?! Were they able to clear out the Grimm?". "Things at Vale are under control." Tai said, but Matt carried on, "But the school isn't that simple. That thing...is still alive.". "Although you did a number on it," Tai began, "it's not dying. It's...kind of...frozen.". "I did what?" Ruby asked, which made Tai and Matt look at each other, while Ruby was looking at them both. "You said I did a number on it. What do you mean?". "Well...we don't really know…" Matt said, but Tai followed up by saying "It's not important, we can talk about it later. Things are just...kind of a mess.".

"It's always a mess." A familiar voice was heard coming near the door. Matt looked back, and saw Qrow, who took a gulp of what seemed to be alcohol, before pulling out a second bottle, and throwing it Matt's way. Matt looked at Qrow confused, until Qrow said "You've been taking it rough. Thought you could use something to cool you off.". Matt took a huge swig, and began spluttering, since he had never really drunk alcohol before. Ruby began to give a little giggle, and Tai smiled a little, seeing Ruby with a happy look. "Mind if we have a minute?" Qrow asked, while gesturing towards Matt and Ruby. "What! I can't stay?" Tai asked, while Matt tried to stay back a little, not wanting any unwanted attention from Tai. "Tai. Please." Qrow simply said. Tai stood up, and walked out of the room, but making sure that Matt could feel Tai's gaze burning into his soul, making Matt shiver.

"So, how you feeling?" Qrow asked Ruby, while Matt was stood behind him, taking smaller sips of the alcohol. "Um, I kind of hurt...all over.". "That makes sense, after what you did." Qrow said, but Ruby suddenly asked "You guys keep saying that! That I did something. What are you talking about?". Qrow asked Ruby what the last thing she remembered was, and in an instant, Ruby's eyes began to tear as she asked "Pyrrha! is she-". Matt and Qrow both put their heads down in sorrow. "She's gone…" Qrow said, making Ruby break down. "When I got to the top," Ruby began, still upset at the thought of her fallen friend, "I saw Pyrrha, and Cinder. And then everything went white.". "Anything else?" Matt asked, which Ruby responded, while grabbing the side of her head, "I remember... my head hurting.".

"The night you met Ozpin, what was the first thing he said to you?" Qrow asked, which made Matt confused at the question. "I think it was something about-" Ruby was cut off by Qrow, who was "Silver eyes. That's a special kind of trait. You're special, Ruby. And not in the " _Daddy loves his special angel_ " kinda way. You're special like your mother was.". Matt looked confused, and then asked "What do you mean " _was"_?" Matt asked, while Ruby and Qrow looked down. "She...died...a few years back..." Ruby began to answer, but Matt said "Ruby, I'm so sorry. I had no idea.". "It's fine. Actually, I have an idea on how she can help you.". "Excuse me?" both Matt and Qrow asked, but Ruby refused to say anything else.

"As I was saying," Qrow said, getting the attention of Matt and Ruby, "Remnant's full of legends and stories. Some of them true, some made up. But there's one Oz told me from a very long time ago. Back before huntsmen, before kingdoms. It was said that those born with silver eyes were destined to lead the life of a warrior. You see, the creatures of Grimm, were afraid of those silver-eyed warriors. They were the best of the best. It was said that even a single look from one of these fighters could strike a Grimm down. It's a ridiculous story.". Matt asked Qrow, "So, you think she might be…". Qrow cut him off, "Well...a giant monster is currently frozen on Beacon tower, and she's here, safe in bed.".

"Wait, how did you know what Ozpin said to me?" Ruby questioned Qrow. "All those missions I go on, all the times I run off to some far off place...it's been for Ozpin. But he's gone missing, and I'm gonna have to pick up where he left off." Qrow said, as he looked out the window. "Then what can I do?" Matt and Ruby said in unison. "If I'm so special, then I can help! Right?" Ruby asked, which Qrow quickly responded with "You really wanna help? Get some rest. You're in no condition to go anywhere right now. Besides, our enemy's trail leads all the way to Haven. That'd be quite a trip for a pair of pipsqueaks.". Qrow began to leave the room, before saying "See ya later, kiddos.".

Matt and Ruby were left in the room, before Matt asked "So how is your mother going to help me then?". Ruby responded by saying "Everything of hers is still here. She may have something that will come in handy. I'm planning on leaving as soon as possible, and getting to Haven.". "Alright," Matt said, "But I'm coming with you. As well as Jaune, Nora, and Ren. They're nearby, and I'm sure they all wanna see you.". "Sounds like a plan!" Ruby added, before saying "I'm gonna go see Yang, you wanna come with?". Matt looked at Ruby, and said, in a soft tone, "Ruby, she's...not really the same. I've tried speaking to her, but she...can get irritated very quickly. Just keep that in mind.". Matt began to leave the room, before giving Ruby a warm smile. "I think she wants to see you, but just be ready, alright." Matt said, as he left Ruby's room.

A few months passed, leading to winter, with snow running all across Patch. Matt and Ruby left the house quietly, not getting the attention of Yang or Tai. "Do you really think it's okay for me to take this?" Matt asked Ruby for the hundredth time, while messing around with a hood that was attached to his jacket. "Of course. It was my mother's. It can attach to any jacket or coat, and since you don't like people staring at your scar, it might help.". Matt was still upset about his scar, but he had gotten used to Ruby mentioning it every now and then, which made Ruby happy, knowing that Matt was comfortable around her.

As Matt was putting up his new dark black hood, he heard a friendly voice. "Hey." Matt turned around, and saw Jaune. "Hey Jaune." Matt and Ruby said at the same time. "Haven's a long way to go." Matt said, which Jaune quickly responded with "I know. But it's the only lead we have.". "And you're sure you wanna come along?" Ruby asked, checking that Jaune was still up for the long journey. Ren then walked up to them, and Nora followed behind. "The journey will be perilous, and whether we'll find answers at the end is entirely uncertain." Ren said, which Nora finished off with "But we wouldn't be here if we weren't up for it.". Matt smiled at the sight of the people he cared about in front of him, took a deep breath, and said "Alright. Let's do this.". "Actually…" Ruby said, "There's one place I want to go to before we leave.".

"And where's that?" Ren asked, until they all walked down a path nearby, revealing a gravestone, with the name 'Summer Rose' engraved onto it. Ruby had just began to walk away from the grave, until Matt walked past her, moving towards the grave. Ruby gave a confused look, until she realized that he was speaking to Ruby's mother. She walked closer so she could hear Matt, and heard him say "She's one incredible girl. You really have done a great job, and I know that Ruby misses you so much. Although you don't know me, I am close friends with your daughter, and I promise, with all of my heart, soul, aura, and semblance, that I will protect her, until my last breath. When I first got to Beacon, she truly made me, and my partner, feel welcome. She means so much, not only to me, but to everyone she has ever met. Thank you, so, so much for creating such a great person.". Matt stood up, and saw Ruby was tearing up at his words. "I-I didn't know you were-" Matt began to say to Ruby, but was cut off by her, as she said, "Thank you." and slowly walked back to Jaune, Nora, and Ren, who were waiting for them both. They all began walking, leading down a path, which was going to bring them to a beginning of a new adventure.


	34. Chapter 34 (M)

**Chapter 34 (Matt) - Change**

"What if I added these upgrades?" The purple-haired teenager known as Matt asked a tall faunus with two horns on his head. "For the last time, just hurry up!" The faunus responded, "Your friends already left to deal with that...monster, and they may need your help! And besides, I may not even have the material to make upgrades for your weapons!". "Materials won't be an issue." Matt said as he pulled out a large clump of metal from a backpack Ruby left with him. "I'm not sure if you can create any upgrades with this, but," Matt took off his gauntlets, "hopefully you can help my weapon.". "I'll try-" The faunus tried to respond, until the ground began to shake with tremendous force. The faunus man only muttered one word, "The Grimm…". "That's my cue to leave." Matt said as he ran out of the door. "But don't you need your…weapons…" The faunus yelled, but to no avail as Matt had already ran into the forest where he could see trees crashing down.

As Matt got closer, he could see more and more explosions, as well as some rose petals leading to an opening. While Matt was getting closer, he heard a familiar voice, "Guys, I got it! We hit it harder!" Jaune said. "Is that it?" Ren responded, sounding disappointed in his blonde haired teammate. "No seriously!" Jaune responded, "It's trying to keep us from its face! If we kill the limbs, we have a shot to kill the whole thing!". "What..is..that?" Jaune, Nora, Ren, and Ruby turned around to see Matt, staring at a giant rock monster, or at least a Grimm that took control of some boulders, as a flaming tree. "How the hell is it controlling the tree, and why is it on fire!?" Matt asked. "Long story-" Ruby began to respond, until she noticed he still had his hood covering his face. "You know, you don't always need to keep that on.", "I know," Matt replied, "I just...feel comfortable.". "Wait, where're your gauntlets?" Nora asked. "They're-" Matt looked up in shock, "Dammit!" He yelled as he realised that he left them at the blacksmith to be fixed up. "Just stick with Jaune!" Ruby ordered Matt. "Sure thing, Lil' Rose." Matt responded, as he a Jaune stood together. "Alright...come on, team! Let's do this!" Ruby said, getting everyone hyped up for the fight. "Ren, left. Ruby, right. Matt, you're with me. Nora, ready to try out the new upgrade?" Jaune asked, while Nora just gave a chaotic look. "The one time I have something solid to punch…" Matt sighed, until a giant rock slammed on the ground, and began chasing Matt and Jaune.

"Argh!" Ruby yelled in an aggressive tone as she sliced with Crescent Rose at the burning tree, while Ren jumped over, covering the Grimm in bullets. The Grimm ignored the shots, and sent a punch at Ruby, which launched her away. Nora began to charge up her weapon, signalling to Jaune and Matt to get the giant rock monsters attention. "Uh...hey! Over here!" Jaune yelled, which caught the Grimm's attention. The Grimm swiped at Jaune, forcing Matt to jump over the burning tree, giving Ren enough time to land on its other arm, and begin firing towards the rock's face. Ren launched himself back to get some distance, while Ruby got in close, slashing left and right at the Grimm. The Grimm launched an attack with it's tree arm, which Ruby avoided, but she didn't see the second attack with it's rock arm. Just before it hit, Matt jumped in the way, giving Ruby just enough time to use the momentum and launch herself into the air, and fire herself back down knocking back the arm.

Matt screamed out in pain as his aura dropped the instant he got hit, and smashed against a tree next to Nora. "That's not good…" Nora said, until her weapon indicated that it was fully charged. "Ready!" The ginger haired girl exclaimed. Ruby sent herself back with her sniper rifle shot, and landed just behind Nora. "USE EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT!" Jaune yelled at Ruby, while she immediately used her semblance to grab onto Nora, and drag her into the monster. Nora slammed down with her hammer, Magnild, and broke through all of the Grimm's defences, leaving a singular rock which hit the ground with great force. "Matt!" Ruby exclaimed, as she ran over to him, helping him up. Matt looked up and saw the Geist Grimm leaving the rock. "Don't worry about me, just kill it!" Matt yelled to Ruby. She turned around, and fired a sniper round at the fleeing Geist.

"Guys, seriously. It's not that bad…" Matt said, trying to hide the pain from the rest of the team. "Matt, we need to see what's wrong." Ren said, trying to get Matt to take off his shirt and jacket so they could see what's wrong with him. Matt hesitated, before saying "Fine.". Matt sighed, and took of his shirt. "How are you a hunter…" Ruby asked as she stared at Matt's body. "Hey, me not being completely in shape helps a lot. Having the extra fat keeps me from getting hurt as much.". "Well it didn't help that much." Ruby said, giving a grin as she and Ren helped pick Matt up. "I found the problem!" Nora exclaimed. "What is it?" Ren asked. "It's his arm, silly!" Nora responded. "How're you so sure?" Matt questioned. "If anyone knows about broken joints, it's me." Nora said as she gave a wide grin. "Broken!?" Matt asked, sounding scared. "Naa," Nora responded, "just dislocated.". "Well how should I fix it?" Matt asked. "Like this!" Nora yelled, as she yanked Matt's arm back into position. "ARGH!" Matt screamed, as he gritted his teeth, trying to be quiet so no more Grimm would show up. "Can you at least warn me next time?" Matt pleaded, while Nora just walked up to Matt and 'booped' his nose.

"We truly can't thank you enough." A tall man wearing a red robe and grey hair said to Matt, Nora, Jaune, Ren, and Ruby. "Just doing our job, sir." Ruby responded. "That Geist had been plaguing our village for weeks." The man explained, "We were beginning to wonder of we'd have to relocate.". "Well, we're on our way to Mistral… You could always come along with us if you don't feel safe." Ruby invited. "Heh, I take it you're not from these parts…" The man said, "Anima is a large continent… I'm afraid our people would never survive the long trek to Mistral. It may be safer in the Kingdoms, but we prefer our way of life. I just wish we could pay you more.". "Our previous arrangement is more than sufficient." Ren said, which caught Matt's attention. "Maybe our weapons have been finished!" Matt said to Jaune, which also excited Ruby. "Only one way to find out…".

"There you go, son!" The faunus laid down a new piece of gear fit for Jaune to wear. The gear was a white chest piece, which was outlined with with gold. "It's gonna be heavier than you're used to, but you'll thank me the next time you go up against a set of claws!" The horned man explained. "Wow… Uh… I don't know what to say." Jaune struggled to say, "Don't gotta say anything! Just put it on!" the faunus replied, giving a welcoming smile. "I'll go get the rest.".

"So...what're you waiting for?" Nora asked. "Yeah, I wanna see how badass you look in it!" Matt said. "Guess I was gonna grow out of it eventually…" Jaune stated as he removed his armour. "A sign of progress." Ren said, supporting his friend. "Yeah…" Jaune said as he turned around, revealing that his hoodie has a picture of a rabbit in the center of it. Ruby immediately began laughing. "Uh, what is it?" Jaune asked. "What is THAT?!" Ruby yelled while pointing at his hoodie. "My hoodie? I've always had this?". Jaune responded. Ruby was nearly in tears with laughter, "IT'S GOT A CUTE LITTLE BUNNY ON IT!". "It's Pumpkin Pete! Y'know, from the cereal?" Jaune tried to explain himself. This only caused Ruby to laugh more. "What did you do?! Send in a box top for a prize?!" Ruby asked, barely audible from laughter. "Yeah! Fifty!" Jaune responded. Ruby was still laughing, and ended up falling on the floor with tears in her eyes.

Nora looked over at Matt, and saw noticed that he hadn't stopped looking at Jaune's jumped since he removed his armour. "What's wrong?" Nora asked. Matt got startled by the question after realising he was being looked at by everyone. "It just… reminds me of…" Matt was hesitant. "Of what?" Nora questioned. "Nora, stop." Ren said. "No, it's fine Ren. I needed to get it off my chest… It reminds me of Velvet. We haven't seen each other in months, and we didn't even have a proper goodbye, she just... disappeared…" Matt sighed to himself, "But I shouldn't let her get in my head. She's probably safe, which is all that matters. We have a new objective, and that's to get to Mistral.". "I can agree with that!" Ruby said, finally standing up from her fit of laughter. Matt quickly changed subject to everyone's new clothings, "You know, just because I have a new hood doesn't mean you all had to change your outfits.". "Hey, you're not the only one who can change." Nora yelled. "Speaking of which," Ren said, "I'm surprised you weren't knocked out by the Geist, or Nora, they both caused you a lot of pain.". "Yeah well I guess my endurance has gotten better." Matt responded.

"Can't have a huntsman without his weapon!" The faunus stated as he walked out of a door, revealing Jaune's shield attached to a sword. The shield was white and outlined with gold, with the bottom part making a white burning heart shape, and the sword with a golden hilt. "That was some fine metal you brought me. Accents the white nicely. Where'd you get it from?" The man asked. "A friend…"Jaune replied while looking at his new equipment.

"And you." The faunus looked at Matt. "Can we have a minute?". "Just wait for me outside, I won't be long.". Ruby, Jaune, Nora, and Ren went outside, while the man brought something out of the back of his shop. "Where did you get that material?", "I got it...while I was about." Matt responded. "Well it still had blood on it…" The man responded, causing Matt to look up, shocked at what the Faunus would say next. "Normally, I'd have some authorities look into this, but you helped out our village. I can tell none of you are bad kids.". "Thank you." Matt responded, giving a sigh of relief.

"Anyway," The man continued, "Your weapon!". He pulled out the pair of gauntlets. "They feel...the same." Matt said as he put them on. "They will, just try pushing a little button to the side.". Matt immediately pushed a button on both gauntlets, and his shields began to expand, moving down his arm, and heading off his hands creating a 3 foot sharp edge. "Let's try it out!" The man said as he pulled out a piece of wood, stone, and metal. The man placed the wood down first on top of two cinder blocks. "Go ahead.". Matt slashed his fist down, instantly cutting through the wood. "I thought it would do that.". "The faunus then put down the stone, which Matt go in a fighting position, and slashed again, using more force than last time, but still breaking through. "Last but not least." The faunus put down the metal, and stood back waiting for Matt. Matt struck down with all of his force, but he could slash through. "I'm not surprised, something as solid as that will need something more blunt to break through. Try punching it." The man asked. "That'll mess up my hand though…" Matt said, flinching at the thought of the pain the metal may cause to him. "Trust me." The faunus said. "Hmm, fine." Matt gave in, and prepared his fist. He punched to metal so hard, it completely collapsed. Matt was normally used to this, but this time, his fist didn't hurt in the slightest. "What did you do?" Matt asked, looking at his fist in amazement that his didn't feel any pain at all. "I had spare material, so I thought I'd give you extra help. The front of your fist was always gonna get hurt with the way it was designed, with this, it shouldn't hurt a bit.".

"Thank you so much." Matt said, incredibly grateful towards the faunus. "Not a proble-" The faunus was cut off by Ruby bursting through the door, and seeing Matt with his weapons on, wood and rock that was sliced up, and metal that had been pulverized. "What happened?" Ruby asked. "Oh hey, Lil' Rose." Matt said nervously as he looked around. "Is that your new weapons? They look the same…" Ruby said in disappointment. "Oh no, you see they-" The faunus was cut off by Matt who whispered "Please don't say anything, she won't stop talking about it for ages.". "Ahahaha. Not a problem." The large man laughed, "You know when I was young, I also had a girlfriend like tha-". "What, no! We're not...no!" Matt stammered as he left, pushing Ruby out of the door with him. The man followed them out, "You kids sure you won't stick around? You've been real good to this town.". "Sorry, but we've gotta get to Haven." Matt said. "We've heard that they have a working airship in the next town over." Ruby explained. "There's no way to know for sure…" said the faunus, "Scroll signals were bad enough out here when Beacon Tower was still up. Haven't heard from Shion village in a while.". "Well, there's only one way to find out!" Ruby said, as the team made their way out of the village.

"Food?" Jaune asked, "Check!" Nora responded. "Water?" Jaune asked again. "Check!" Nora said again. "What about ammo?" Jaune questioned. "Locked and loaded!" Nora replied, "Thanks to the Schnee Dust Company!". At the word of "Schnee", Matt immediately began to wander about Jason, and if he got the answers he was looking for, until he was interrupted by Ruby, "So...what do you think Matt?". "Huh, sorry, what? I was daydreaming…" Matt admitted. "I was asking you about names...for your weapon?!" Ruby asked again. "I...haven't given it much thought…" Matt said. "What about Left and Right?" Matt said. "Too simple." Nora responded. "What about Ultimate Power?" Matt asked. "Too...over the top." Ren responded. "Well...what about Anngotic?". "You know what? I like it." Ruby said, looking at Matt's gauntlets, wandering what's so new with them. "What about the map?" Jaune asked. "Ren's got it!" Nora said, "No I don't. You have it." Ren responded. "What?" Nora asked. "Guys, please tell me you're joking..." Jaune said, in fear that they may get lost.


	35. Chapter 35 (J)

**Chapter 35 (Jason) - Peace and Quiet**

In Weiss' room, Jason continued to help train Weiss with creating her summoning Glyphs. Mia stood next to Jason, while he would yell out the names of Grimm Weiss had defeated before, signalling her to create that certain type of monster. "I'll show you how I do it, Weiss." said Jason, "I first picture inside my mind any Grimm, then imagine everything about it, such as colour, eyes, every piece of fur on its body and the carvings on its mask and finally, channel your power into creating the Grimm in your mind, into a physical form.". As Jason finished his lecture, he closed his eyes and blue electricity started to cloud the room. Mia, becoming overwhelmed with excitement, stared at Jason throughout his teachings to Weiss. After the cloud of lightning clumped together, the lighting stuck towards the floor and started to generate an Ursa. When the Ursa appeared, it had blue transparent electrical surges on its body. "That's a huge teddy bear!" Mia exclaimed while running towards and hugged the electric Ursa, "Mia! Wait!" shouted Jason, however just after Mia had started to gain a slight shock which made her hair spiked up, "I forgot to tell you, Mia, that they shock you..." said Jason, "IT'S ELECTRIFYING!" yelled Mia in excitement. Jason then placed his palm on the Ursa and absorbed it, "Now that you've seen how I did it, let's see if you can do the same, Weiss." said Jason, in hopes of Weiss making progress after the many months she had trained.

"You're nearly there, Weiss, you almost got it!" shouted Jason, while Weiss created a large glyph at the centre of the room. Upon making the Glyph, something started to appear out of it, but Weiss was unable to hold the Glyph, which led it to be broken, shattering the ice that was coming outside of it. "I need… to rest…" said Weiss while wheezing silently, "At least you made progress, I'm sure that with more training you should be able to do it!" said Jason, which encouraged Weiss and gave her a smile. "Thank you Jason, I'm glad I met you.", "Likewise, I'm glad to be your friend." replied Jason. "I want to be like you guys!" shouted Mia, "Hang on, Mia, I can't let you do that, it's a dangerous job." said Jason. "But you and Ice queen are doing it..." responded Mia, "What did you call me?!" yelled Weiss. "I think it is still dangerous but… when you grow up, I'll help you train to become like us, alright?" Jason proclaimed, "Thank you, Jason!" exclaimed Mia while running to Jason to hug him.

"I think dinner should be ready, we should get something to eat before we start training again." said Jason, "I can follow you with that." Weiss agreeing to Jason while following both him and Mia to enter the dining room. As the trio made it towards the dining room, the three heard Jacques from afar. Jason, becoming curious, moved closer to the noise and heard him complaining about something. "What do you mean we are understaffed? Are you saying that we can't have dinner? Well do something about it!", Jacques continued to shout at Klein, "Jason! What are you doing?" questioned Weiss, "Don't worry, I'll handle this. Mia stay with Weiss." replied Jason. "Is something the matter, Jacques?" said Jason, "Ah Jason, we do have problem. It appears we won't have dinner for today as the Chef is ill and unable to make it." responded Jacques, "I can cook for dinner" Jason announced. "There's no need to do any labouring within our household." replied Jacques, "Don't worry about it, in fact I want you guys to try out my recipe that I recently made." said Jason, "Well, if you insist, I'll allow you to become the Chef.". "Great! Klein, I'm gonna need your help." Jason offering the help from Klein, he accepted and the two had made their way to the kitchen.

"This kitchen is…big..." said Jason, "So there's the fridge, here's the cooker, boiler, this cupboard holds all the pans while this…" Klein continued his explanation and instructions towards Jason. "Alright, I think I understand everything. Should we start cooking then Klein?", "Since this is your recipe, sir, I shall follow your commands.".

(Meanwhile in the dining room) "What do you suppose Jason is making?" said Jacques, "Since Jason's making it, it's going to be delicious!" Mia stated. "And how do you know that?" Whitley argued, "He used to make food just for me before I left Vale." responded Mia, "I do have to agree with Mia, I for once have tried Jason's cooking and found the dishes he make quite admirable." said Weiss supporting Mia, "Then I look forward to the dish he creates." said Jacques. "Do you hear that noise coming from the kitchen or is it my imagination..." Whitley questioned.

(Inside the kitchen) "WHERE'S THE LAMB SAUCE! WHERE'S THE LAMB SAUCE!" Jason furiously shouted in anger to Klein who was preparing the lamb sauce, "It's right here, Chef" said Klein in whimpering tone. Jason looking away to see another chef making a mistake, "THE DUCK'S BURNT. YOU'RE COOKING A BURNT PAN YOU FUCKING DICK. Oh my god! Leave it! LEAVE IT! You're blowing fire to your face you FUCKING DONKEY!" Jason continued to shout in anger to all the staff as all of the kitchen staff were not working as a team, until Klein stepped up. "You shouldn't say stuff like that to our staff, Jason." said Klein in a croaky tone, "FUCK OFF!" Jason replied, "NO! FUCK YOU!" responded Klein, "TAKE THIS AND FUCK OFF YOU FAT USELESS SACK OF FUCKING YANKIE DANKIE DOODLE SHITE!" Jason retaliated and shouted more aggressively than Klein.

As time has passed, staff with silver plates appeared out of the kitchen and placed the dishes on the table. With Jacques being the first to try out the dish, "This is the most delicious dish I have ever eaten in my entire life. My goodness! I bet you took some time preparing this dish, am I correct, Jason?", "Nah, no problems in the kitchen." replied Jason. "Oh my, this is quite delicious..." stated Whitley, "I told you Jason's cooking was the best." Weiss exclaimed while Mia was eating the dish faster than anyone and had her cheeks covered in the lamb sauce, "Hey Mia, you can't eat too fast." said Jason as he used a cloth to wipe the sauce up from Mia's cheeks.

The next morning, Jason was walking with Mia joyfully, and met up Weiss. "Where're you going, Weiss?" Jason questioned, "My father summoned me to his office, and since he's...him… I have to go." replied Weiss. "Alright, I'll meet you in your room so we can carry on with your training then.", "It shouldn't take too long anyways, but I'll be right back.". Jason and Mia passed Weiss, then Jason whispered "Wanna hear what her father's going to say, Mia?", "Isn't that bad to listen on a private conversation?" Mia replied in a worried tone, "Nah, it's fine.". While the two went to follow Weiss without her knowing, they saw her entering Jacques' office and Ironwood leaving the office. Jason, becoming more curious, greeted Ironwood after not seeing him for months, "Long time no see, Ironwood!" shouted Jason, "It's certainly been a while, Jason, how are you holding up?" replied General Ironwood. "I'm still training, but... I don't know if the training is getting me anywhere." responded Jason, "As the same thing I said to Weiss, there's always a place for you in Atlas Academy, and I'm definitely sure that there is someone to match your skill.". "I'll think about your offer, but I'll join if Weiss joins. Only because I don't want to be the only person there." said Jason, "I understand. Anyways, it was nice talking to you. I must take my leave, so until we meet again.", "See ya later, Ironwood!" yelled Jason as Ironwood passed by him. "Oh. Hi Klein!" shouted Jason, "Hello… sir…" Klein uttered his words silently which Jason could barely hear him, "I know yesterday was a... bad day, but it was in the heat of the moment, and for that, I sincerely apologize.". "I accept your apology." said Klein, as Weiss left Jacques office while looking down to the floor, "Hot coffee, Miss Schnee?" asked Klein, "I always find he keeps his study dreadfully cold." Klein continued. Weiss, accepting the offer of hot coffee, thanked him for it, "I think it's to balance out all of his hot air!", leaving Weiss in shock but laughter afterwards, "So... what did he want from you?" Jason questioned, "He wants me to sing for charity.". "YOU CAN SING?!" jason replied in a surprising manner, "Why are you surprised, of course I can sing!" Weiss said, sounding annoyed, "I mean I can sing too..." said Jason. Jason intentionally gave a horrible singing performance, which caused Mia to cover his mouth, and kept it shut leaving Weiss in laughter after the terrible performance Jason made.


	36. Chapter 36 (M)

**Chapter 36 (Matt) - Protectors Protector**

"Huhh!" Ruby gasped as she woke up after a long day of walking to their next destination. "You're up early…" Matt said, getting the attention of Ruby. "Oh, hey Matt." Ruby said, "Wait, were you just watching me sleep!", "What! No! I was just...watching over everyone. I also woke up early." Matt explained himself. "That doesn't explain why you're se close to me." Ruby muttered loud enough for Matt to hear. "I-I- uh, I was just...I thought I heard you say something in your sleep, so I just moved closer, that's all.". Ruby, still having a confused look on her face, said, "That's still wrong!" after hitting him playfully in his stomach. "Yeah, yeah," Matt laughed, "I suppose it's a little odd. Now come on, we have just a bit more, then we can finally get to that airship!"

"So the next town is...uhh...we're lost." Ruby sighed. "We're not lost!" Jaune assured, "The next town is Shion. My family used to visit it all the time.". "Oh, yeah! Don't you have, like, four sisters?" Ruby asked, which Jaune replied, sighing, with "Seven…" causing Ruby to giggle a little. "Y'know, that actually explains a lot." Both Nora and Matt said simultaneously, causing them both to look at each other, and both say "Jinx, you owe me-", "Wait, what do you mean?" Jaune interrupted. "Um…" Both Nora and Matt didn't know what to say, but Ruby saved the day by asking "So, what did you guys do there?", "Oh, all sorts of stuff!" Jaune said, with excitement in his voice. "Over here is a great hiking trail, and over here is where we went camping all the time! I had my own tent because I was special!". "You can say that again…" Matt whispered to Nora, giving her a laugh. "Also, so my sisters would stop braiding my hair." Jaune continued. "Didn't like the look?" Ruby asked, "Yeah, they just kept doing pigtails, but personally I think I'm more of a "Warrior's Wolf Tail" kind of guy." Jaune responded. "That's just a ponytail." Ruby informed Jaune. "I stand by what I said." Jaune snapped back. "I think he was just worried that people may think he's more adorable than a warrior!" Matt joked, until Nora gasped, "Uhh, guys!", "What?" Jaune, Matt, and Ruby asked at the same time and looked up from the map, just to see Shion in ruins!

All five ran towards the city, and with every step, more and more bodies were found all across the town. "There could be survivors!" Ruby yelled, as Ren began to run towards a man laid against a broken piece of buildings. "Over here!" Ren yelled, getting the attention of the rest of the group. Nora, Jaune, and Ruby made their way towards Ren, while Matt stayed back and search anywhere for survivors. "What happened?" Ruby asked, followed up by Jaune, "Who killed all these people?", "Bandits. The whole tribe…" the man explained. "Then, with all the panic…", "Grimm!" Ren finished off the man's sentence.

"Guys!" Matt yelled over, as he ran back to the group, "The airship isn't gonna work at all. Whoever did this really wanted to make sure no one could survive.". Ren called everyone over, only for everyone to be met with the dead expression on the man's face. "Is he…?" Matt began to ask, "Should we...bury him?" Nora questioned. "We should go." Ren said, as he moved his way past the group. Jaune began to sigh, and had an angry look in his eye, "It'll be okay." Ruby said, trying to assure Jaune. "I'm just tired of losing everything." Jaune replied. "I know how you feel… Let's keep moving." Matt said, as he patted Jaune on the shoulder, and walked his way out of Shion.

Matt was perched against a tree, looking through is scroll at old pictures of his time at Beacon. "I should be asleep at this time…" Matt whispered to himself. As he turned around, he looked back at his group, and noticed Jaune and Ruby were missing. He gradually started to walk past the makeshift camp, and heard Jaune grunting. As Matt got closer, he saw Jaune in the distance, watching a video with Pyrrha on it, teaching him how to fight, and Ruby in front of Matt, watching Jaune.

Ruby slowly began to walk away, but when she turned around, Matt was directly in her face. "Hey." Matt whispered, "What're you doing up so early?". Ruby, who was startled, whispered back "Can you stop spying on me!", "You wish I was spying on you, Lil Rose." Matt laughed. Ruby gave a serious look, "But seriously, why are you awake?" she asked. Matt looked down at the ground, and took off his hood. "Ever since this happened," Matt pointed to his scar, "ever since the Fall of Beacon, I haven't gotten much sleep. I've tried, don't get me wrong, but know I feel like I've got a duty to keep. You remember the promise I made, to your mother?" Matt asked. "Yeah, I remember. But I can take care of myself.", "Of course you can!" Matt said in a loud and aggressive tone, "But no one plans on losing, and look at what happened. I can't sleep because I made a promise, not only to your mother, but to myself. You're special, Ruby. Even Qrow said it! You have the eyes of a warrior, and I need to see you get stronger! One day, you'll save this world! You'll save me, again, just like you did in the Emerald Forest. I just want to see you safe.". "Come here, you big dummy." Ruby said, trying to hide her face of tears, as she went up to him and gave him a hug. "Now come on," She continued, "let's head back to camp, we don't have far to until the next town, and to keep moving we both need our beauty sleep!", "I don't need to be beautiful, I just need to become a badass!" Matt joked, as he caught up with Ruby, and lead against the same tree, instantly falling asleep.


	37. Chapter 37 (J)

**Chapter 37 (Jason) - The Bad Within Good**

"I'm not your pet, not another thing you own,

I was not born guilty of your crimes.

Your riches and your influence can't hold me anymore,

I won't be possessed.

Burdened by your royal test,

I will not surrender.

This life is mine."

As Weiss lifted everyone's spirits, she continued to sing and consume everyone with joy to whoever heard her angelic voice. While Jason and Mia were backstage, the two had their eyes glued on her. Jason continued to look at her, only for him to feel sorry for her as he related the song to Weiss' life. "Jason… how do I sing like her?" asked Mia, "Five minutes of writing up the lyrics in a bathroom and that's it!" Jason responded mockingly. An enormous applause rained on Weiss as she turned her back on the audience, but Jason noticed Weiss looking upset, and waited for her to enter the backstage. "What's up good looking?!" yelled Jason, "Would you knock that off already!" Weiss yelled back, "Whatever you say, Snowflake..." replied Jason. "Ice queen, you need to teach me how to sing, I wanna be like you when I get older!" said Mia as she ran and hugged Weiss.

The trio had managed to bring laughter to each other, until it was broken by the appearance of Jacques, "Remember you three, the party starts at 7. Make sure you all act in the correct manner." said Jacques. However, just before Jacques left the backstage, Jason yelled furiously "Are you not going to compliment your own daughter!", "Jason… stop…" said Weiss. "Ugh, Weiss, thank you…" Jacques gave a sigh and left the room. "Listen, Jason, you know if you go against my father, the consequences will be severe. You know he WILL kick you out of our house so please, bear with him.", "But-", "No buts, just play with it until we at least get out of here." Weiss interrupted, "and… thanks anyways for trying." Weiss continued, "No problem..." Jason responded. "Anyways we should pick a dress for Mia to wear, I'm sure she'll look adorable in one!" Weiss exclaimed.

"You guys! Are you ready yet?", Jason asked while waiting outside of Weiss' room. "We're almost rea- Hey! Mia, hold still!" shouted Weiss, "But it's too tight!" cried Mia. After waiting for what seemed like hours to Jason, Weiss finally appeared from her room, "Alright, we're ready." said Weiss, Mia came into sight, wearing blue frilly dress and a tiara, leaving Jason surprised. "Now that is…shocking..." said Jason after setting of a small electrical charge, "Did you just use a pun?" Weiss questioned, "In fact, don't answer." Weiss continued. "Can I change back to my normal clothes?" Mia whined, "C'mon, Mia. It looks nice on ya, just wear it for today." said Jason. "If you say so…" replied Mia.

While the trio made their way to the door, the three was instantly met by Jacques, "What took you three so long, the party has already started!" yelled Jacques, "Weiss, you are going to stay with me!" Jacques continued, "Fine…" replied Weiss. "What about us?" Jason questioned, "Do anything you want, just make sure you don't do anything stupid. Remember, you are representing the Schnee Dust Company.", "Okay." responded Jason after letting Jacques take Weiss away, but within a few seconds, Jason noticed again that Weiss was looking upset. "Let's go, Mia." said Jason, "'Kay." Mia responded. As the two walked around the party like headless chickens, Jason found a painting of Beacon Academy and walked up to it, admiring it for minutes. Mia questioned Jason in a worrisome tone, "What happened?", "Something...really bad happened which made me separate from all my friends everyone except Weiss.", Jason continued "It left a big hole in everyone hearts, including mine...". A young girl wearing red and coincidentally had red hair with a fringe, as well as seemingly looking the same age as Jason, started to approach him, but Mia noticed and hid behind Jason, "Here's a new face that I haven't seen around here..." said the girl in red, "You must be new around here. My name is Jessica." said the girl. "Hello…Jess." said Jason, "Haven't heard that nickname in a while. So what's your name, good looking?" responded Jess, "Uhhm m-m-my n-name is J-Jason." Jason continued to stutter, "So I think you and me should hang out somet-", "NO! Jason's mine, leave him alone." Mia rushed out of hiding and instantly interrupted Jess.

"Don't worry little miss, I'm not stealing him or anyth-", "NO! NO! NO!" Mia continued to interrupt Jess while shaking her head quickly. Jason had seen Weiss within his line of sight as she approached him. "Snowflake!" exclaimed Jason, but was soon left in shock after Weiss grabbed Jason by the arm, "Wha-" shouted Jason, "I'm sorry, but at the moment Jason and I are dating so if you would please let us be." Weiss demanded. "I'm not convinced… but whatever you say." said Jess, "See you around, Jason." Jess continued until she had left the three alone. Mia then suddenly latched onto Jason's other arm, "Mia, Wha-" yelled Jason, "It's not fair!" Mia whined, "Ice Queen still holding onto you and I'm not giving you away to anyone!" Mia continued. Jason, without realising, saw Weiss still holding onto his arm until she had released her arms off Jason and walked in front of him, gave him a hug and rested her forehead on his chest. "What's up snowflake?" Jason questioned, "You can't leave me…" Weiss muttered, "What do you mean?" Jason continued to question Weiss, "I saw you talking to that girl." Weiss responded, "And I'm scared if someone were to take you away from me like that girl. You are important to me, and if you disappeared… I don't know what I'd do..." Weiss continued. "I'm not going anywhere, and besides, we're practically family here." replied Jason. Weiss lifted her head off Jason's chest but not letting go of the hug, "Can you promise me something, Jason?" said Weiss, "Anything!" replied Jason. Weiss began to look flustered and looked at Jason's eyes "Do you promise me that you'll stay with me?" Weiss stated, "As you wish my humble princess." replied Jason, "Heh, thank you Jason." laughed Weiss, "Not a problem." said Jason.", "I feel like something is pulling my leg away..." whined Weiss. As Weiss broke her hug away from Jason, she turned her head to see Mia trying to get Weiss away from Jason. Mia, finally noticing that Weiss broke the hug, she lunged herself towards Jason, filling her cheeks with air and tears started to appear from Mia's eyes. "Mia, don't worry. We will always be together too." Jason stated while he had responded Mia's hug by kneeling down and hugging her back.

Weiss then began looking at the painting of Vale that Jason had admired a few minutes ago, "It's beautiful." said the young man who was also looking at the painting. "You two match." the young man continued, "Why thank you!" exclaimed Jason, "Not you." the young man corrected while Weiss is trying to hide her laughter but began giggling. "I'm talking to Miss Schnee here, not you. Anyways, as I was saying, you two match.", "Yes, it's a beautiful painting." Weiss replied. Jason, keeping quiet, was playing around with Mia but was concentrating on listening to Weiss and the mysterious young man, "So… That was my attempt at breaking the ice…" said the young man, "How am I doing so far?." the young man questioned. "You are leaving a lot to be desired..." answered Weiss before giving off a sigh, "Well, I always appreciated honesty." he replied. As the young man found his composure, he introduced himself to Weiss while offering a handshake, "Henry Marigold." said the young man. Weiss responded to the handshake and exchanged her name to Henry, "I know. I saw your performance… Obviously." said Henry in a mocking manner. "You were wonderful! And I'm not saying that because you're pretty." said Henry, "Honesty, remember." added Henry. Henry saw the awkwardness in the air, and found topic to talk about, "So… You thinking about buying it?" Henry questioned. "No..." Weiss answered, "I don't think so." she added. "Yeah… Kinda pricey for a painting..." said Henry, "It's to raise money!", "Oh really?" Henry questioned, "For what?". "For what!?" Weiss snapped back, "I'll admit… I only come to these things for the food and drinks." said Henry, "And the extraordinary company, of course." Henry continued. "So what… Is it another mantle fundraiser or something.", "Get out." Weiss demanded, Henry looking confused had questioned Weiss "What?", "Get out, or I will have security escort you out!" shouted Weiss, "But I haven't done anyth-", "Leave!" Weiss yelled and interrupted Henry before he could finish his sentence, "Whatever." Henry replied as he left.

Jason had then walked towards Weiss and try to make a joke, "That was… cold-hearted of you" said Jason. "I'm not in the mood, Jason.", "Sorry, I thought I could… you know, lighten you up a bit.", It's fine..." Weiss responded. But within the little silence, a loud voice could be heard, Jason was the first to look around, and had spotted a woman. "But really, does it come as any surprise what happend to Vale?" the woman said, "It was a long time coming if you ask me!" she continued. "Honey." her husband said, trying his best to stop her from saying anything further, "What?" she asked, "You said the same thing last night." she continued. As Jason clenched his fist, his anger started to rise as he began to grit his teeth. "If they're so arrogant to think that they can get by without proper kingdom defense, then I say good riddance." the arrogant woman continued her yelling. "Sh!-" yelled Weiss but before Weiss could finish, Jason instantly interrupted. "SHUT UP!", everyone had heard Jason's anger echoed through the room but Mia was the most surprised of them all. As all eyes were aimed at Jason, Jacques was the first to speak, "Jason… calm down.", "You have no idea what happened there! What I've been through-what EVERYONE'S been through!", "Jason, that's enough now!" shouted Jacques but was soon followed by the woman, "So what?", "So what!?" Jason shouted, "A friend of mine DIED and I lost my friends, even my partner…" Jason had started to reminisce everyone he cared about but was soon cut off by the women again, "Am I supposed to feel sorry for you or something?", "No, it shows that bitches like you are nothing but people that have a bit more money than most, and who only care for themselves." replied Jason, "But, you're missing one thing." said the women, "And what's that?" Jason responded. "I have friends that are not...dead.".

The room was filled with tension, sudden outbursts of electricity shocked the walls and ceilings, "Mia, get over here!" yelled Weiss. "O-o-okay. What's happening to Jason?", Weiss didn't respond but turned around to meet Mia, hugged her and closed her eyes. Everyone was filled with confusion and fear, they all crouched while holding their hands to their heads, but that didn't matter to Jason, his eyes was focused on one target. Jason, making his sudden rush, bolted towards the women but just before he landed a punch, he was stopped by none other than General Ironwood, but after Ironwood's attempt to block Jason's attack, his arm began to shudder as pieces of metal began to fall off his arm, revealing that his entire arm was robotic. "WHAaat are you doo-" Jason tried to say, but he looked down at his waist, and saw he was injected with a sedative, "I'm sorry Jason, but you was going to kill her.", upon Ironwood finishing his sentence, Jason then began to collapse on the floor and his vision started to blur until he had saw nothing left.


	38. Chapter 38 (M)

**Chapter 38 (Matt) - The Souls Burden**

"Come on guys!" Ruby yelled, "If we pick up the pace we can reach the next town before sunset.", "Easy for you to say…" Matt moaned, "You're used to moving. Even your semblance is about moving. Mines all about getting pissed and hitting as hard as I can!", "Well why don't you just hit the ground...really hard… with your feet, to hurry up?", "That's not how it works, Ruby…" Matt replied.

"We don't even know if the next town will be there." Jaune said. "Of course it'll be there." Ruby replied, "This one's supposed to be pretty big! Hee...gan...bay...na…?". "Higanbana." Ren corrected, "It's a well protected village with a popular inn.", "Which means…" Nora continued, "No more camping in the rain!". "See, everything's gonna be fine!" Ruby assured Jaune. "I guess…" Jaune agreed, "We,be had our ups and downs, but things could be a lot worse! I thought we'd see more Grimm.", "As did I." Ren added. "I guess our luck is finally turning around!" Nora yelled, while Matt grumbled "I could really use something to hit right now…".

"That took longer than I thought..." Ren said to the group, as they walked into town. "Damn it's late. Where d'ya think the inn is?" Matt asked, which Nora immediately responded "Over there." as she pointed towards a small building with a large, bright, glowing sign with the words 'Medali Inn' on the center of it. "Finally, a place to rest." Matt sighed as they all made their way towards the small inn.

"Hello, sir." Ruby greeted a man at the front desk, "Can we have five rooms, please?". "'Fraid not. There's only four rooms available." The man responded. "Damn. Well what're we gonna do?" Nora asked. "Well some of us could share rooms." Jaune suggested, which was followed up by Matt saying "Yea, how about Ren and Nora share a room, since they're, ya know, a thing.". Ren and Nora both looked at Matt, then at each other, and then both frantically began explaining about how they both aren't together. "Alright, alright." Mat sighed, "Well someone has to share a room. I'm not too bothered if I have to share one.", "Well I kinda want a room of my own." Jaune said. "Me too…" Both Ren and Nora replied. "Guess that leaves us." Matt said to Ruby. "Wait, but won't it be...awkward sharing a room with a girl...as well as you being older than me-", "Not to me." Matt replied, "It's only awkward if you make it awkward, and it's not like we have a choice. I'll even sleep in my sleeping bag if you want.". "Ugh, fine!" Ruby gave in, "We'll take four rooms.", "Can do." The man replied chipperly as he passed them all keys.

As Matt and Ruby walked into the room, they noticed everything was tidy, but old fashioned, with a single bed in the center of the room, a door leading to a bathroom, and a window. The second Matt set his sleeping bag down, he took off Anngotic, and walked into the bathroom. "I'm just taking a shower, Ruby. Don't come in!", "Alright!" Ruby yelled back. While Matt was in the shower, he heard metal bang on the ground, followed my Ruby quietly saying "Dammit!". "Ruby?" Matt asked, followed by silence, "Are you messing with Anngotic?" Ruby didn't reply, so Matt put on a towel and walked out, only to see Ruby look up at him, while holding onto his gauntlets. Ruby looked like a deer in headlights, as she put them on a shelf quickly and ran to the bed. "You'll find you what I added later." Matt said, as he checked to see if any scratches were on Anngotic. However, while he was checking, his towel began to give way, and fell down. While he frantically put his weapons back and pulled the towel back up, all he could here from Ruby was laughter and "How's that for awkward?". Matt rushed back into the bathroom, only to exit again wearing lounging trousers, but no shirt.

"That wasn't funny, Lil Rose!" Matt yelled, which was just met by more laughter from Ruby. Matt who was still angry, finally gave in, and sat next to Ruby. "Well at least you're feeling a bit better.", "What do you mean?" Ruby asked, "I've been fine this entire trip.". Matt looked at her, "No, you haven't. When we've been fighting, you've not been yourself. Normally, you're a happy, kind, lovely girl. But ever since...what happened, you've been so...angry.". Ruby had a confused look on her face. "What're you talking about? You fight with anger, so why can't I?", "Ruby, don't try to fight like me. The reason I fight like I do is because of my semblance. It's who I am...who I've become…. I haven't used it in months. When I do anything, all I feel is anger, and I don't want you to feel the same. I'd rather you fight with the willpower you have, than fighting with pure rage. You deserve to have a smile on your face.". Ruby looked at Matt, and then asked "How come you haven't used your semblance in so long? Wouldn't it be better if you let your anger out, so you can at least feel happy for a while?". Matt gave a long sigh before answering. "Ruby, I don't want to have to use it. You saw how crazy I get, but you also see how protective I become. I don't want to hurt anyone I care about. I love you, I love Jaune, I love everyone that went to Beacon with us, but I can't defend them. At least, not yet. The last time I used my semblance, I woke up with a scar on my face, and I'm gonna use that as a reminder to grow stronger without it, and then learn how to use it. Just please, Ruby," Matt brought Ruby into a long hug, "be as happy as you can, and let me worry about any of us being angry, alright?". Matt then got up, and walked over to his sleeping bag. "Night, Lil Rose." Matt said, as he slowly got in his sleeping bag.

The next day, Matt woke up early, feeling incredibly hot. As he began to move, he realised her couldn't actually move around. "What the-" Matt tried to yell out, but was stopped as someone put their hand over his mouth. Suddenly, a light switched on, and Matt, tried to cover his eyes, but couldn't move properly because of some extra weight on top of him. As his eyes slowly began to adjust, he looked at what keeping him pinned and saw a girl that had cyan coloured eyes, with mint green hair on her right side, and white hair on her left. "Wouldn't want to wake her up, would we?" She said, in a sweet and innocent tone. Matt looked at Ruby, and saw her still asleep in her bed. "Now stay quiet, we need to talk.".

She slowly lifted her hand and let Matt speak, but not move. "What do you want? Who are you? How did you get in here?" Matt started firing questions. "None of that's important. You saw the White Fang at Beacon, correct?" The girl asked. "Yeah, what about them?" Matt asked. "Do you know where they are?" The girl questioned, "If I did, I would've gone after them." Matt responded. "Well you've been no help." The girl said, as she pulled out a pair of black hatchets with a green cybernetic look to them., "Thanks for cooperating!". "RUBY!" Matt yelled, instantly waking up Ruby, "Wha- what's up?" She asked, as she sat up, she saw Matt swaying his head left and right, stopping any blows from hitting his head. "Get away from him!" Ruby screamed, as she grabbed Crescent Rose that was laying next to her, and lunged at the green haired girl. The girl tried to block the attack, but Ruby was too fast, and knocked her off.

Matt began to stand up, and saw Ruby and the girl clashing in the room. Matt then looked at the girl, and saw that she was wearing a green skin tight shirt and white trousers, with two slots which must have been where her hatchets were. Matt then looked at the green haired girl and saw her head, which had ears on that pointed up. "A faunus?" Matt said to himself. "Yes, I'm a faunus. A wolf faunus to be exact." The girl replied, which startled Matt, thinking that no one heard him. "Well since you're both awake, I'll be leaving now. It's a shame I couldn't have spent longer. Goodbye for now." The girl then leaped out of the window, and landed safely in the street, before looking back up at Matt who was looking out of the window, giving him a wink, and then running off.

"What's all the yelling?!" Jaune, Ren, and Nora charged in with their weapons ready. "You're a bit too late guys." Matt said, as he sat back down in exhaustion. "That was a wake up call." Ruby said, sitting next to him. "What happened between you two?" Nora asked, everyone realised Matt and Ruby was still on their bed, and Matt was shirtless, while Ruby was in her pyjamas. "NO! Nothing like that!" Matt explained, "Some faunus girl just broke in and tried to kill me!". "Have you seen her before?" Ren asked, which Matt responded with "No. She asked me if I was at Beacon at the time of the attack, and then asked if I knew where the White Fang was.". "It seems like she's been keeping an eye on us." Jaune said, as he shivered at the thought of being watched. "We'll have to leave as soon as possible. She said that she was looking for the White Fang, but she could strike again soon." Ruby said, while Matt began to gather their equipment before leaving.


	39. Chapter 39 (M)

**Chapter 39 (Matt) - Deserved Answers**

"And you just let her get away?" Jaune asked, talking about what happened the night before. "Well it's not like we could have just chased after her." Matt explained, "She's a faunus! She's faster than us anyway. I doubt we could find her in the dark.", "Well Ruby was ready. Why didn't she stop the faunus?" Jaune continued to question. "I was woken up, by Matt, just to see him get nearly killed by some psycho girl!" Ruby yelled, "I nearly saw my friend get killed, so I was more interested in Matt's safety than taking down some random faunus.", "That reminds me," Matt said, looking at Ruby, "thanks for the save, I could've been a goner!".

Ruby gave a smile, until Nora asked "Sooooo...what's on the agenda today?", "Walking!" Jaune replied, sounding enthusiastic, while looking at his map, "With a side of...?" Nora continued to try and find any excitement, but was met by Jaune's blunt response of "Walking…". "Haven is a lot farther away than I thought." Ruby complained. "Ruby…" Ren asked, as he walked up towards her, "How long did you think this journey was going to take?", "I don't know!" Ruby yelled back, sounding agitated, until she looked at Matt and remembered their conversation from the night before, about her anger, "I've never been this far from home…", "Right...but how long?" Jaune asked the same question. "Maybe like, uh… two weeks?" Ruby said, sounding uncertain of herself. "What!?" Jaune responded. "Okay fine, three or something!" Ruby yelled. "It doesn't matter now, anyway. We're already on the move." Matt said. "Hey, what's that?" Ruby asked, as she looked towards some kind of town in the distance.

"That's strange…" Jaune said, while looking at his map, "I didn't think we'd be hitting another village for a few days.". Nora, who was now high up on a fence, looking towards the village, yelled down "Are those buildings...damaged?", "We should search for survivors!" Jaune ordered as he dropped the map, and they all ran into the entrance of the city.

The group immediately began looking for survivors. "Anything?" Ruby asked the rest of the group. "Nothing over here!" Nora replied as she jumped onto a building to get a better view. Suddenly, a large bang was heard as Matt broke open a door, then rubble began to fall as a small building fall down. "No one's here…" Matt yelled out, giving a nervous laugh at the destruction he caused. "It's almost like the town was abandoned…" Ren speculated.

"Hey! I think I found something!" Nora yelled. As the team approached, Nora was moving some vines from a sign that read "Oniyuri". "Never heard of it." Nora said, which Jaune responded with "Me neither.". "I have." Ren admitted, "You might think of it as Anima's Mountain Glenn, had it never completed. Years ago, the richest members of Mistral were unhappy with how the kingdom was being run. Frustrated with the council, they pooled their resources together to build their own city… with their own laws. They hoped that one day, it could maybe even become its own kingdom. Many thought it would be the future. I know my parents did.", "What happened?" Matt asked, "What always happens." Ren responded, as he wiped away some dust from a piece of wood, revealing claw marks. "The Grimm…" Jaune thought outloud. "Not just anyone." Ren said, lost in his own world. "One?" Ruby and Matt asked, as they both looked at Nora. "Come on. Let's get moving." Jaune suggested, "This place gives me the creeps…". Shortly after, Ren and Nora followed, while Matt and Ruby looked them, wondering if they either heard something in the distance, or were going insane.

After moving a short way through the city, Ren signalled the group to stop moving. "What is it?" Matt asked. Ren responded by reaching for his dual pistols, StormFlower, which led to everyone else equipping their weapons too. Suddenly, a man with long, braided hair, and wearing a white sleeveless jacket, that was left open, revealing multiple scars on his chest, with belts strapped along it, white trousers, bandages running down his arms, and shin pads, jumped over a building, landing directly in front of the whole team. "Who the hell is thi-" Matt was cut off short before the man gave a menacing grin, and then charged directly towards Ruby, revealing his weapons, which were a pair of wrist blades. Ren jumped in the way clashing against the man. The man tried to kick, but Ren was too fast and dodged underneath the leg, but was kicked again immediately, launching him back. Ruby was then under attack, narrowly blocking the blades. The man sliced at her again, but Jaune got in the way, leading to the man clinging on to Jaune's shield, and gave a wide smirk, until Matt grabbed hold of his legs, and launched him into a building, creating a wide hole and rubble falling down.

When the dust cleared up, the man had his legs split in between the building, supporting his entire body weight. "Who are you!?" Ren yelled out towards the man. "Oh...hahahahahahaha!" the man responded with a disturbing laugh as he jumped down onto the ground, "Who I am matters not to you. Or you...," the man pointed towards Nora, "or...well...you do interest me…" he said looking at Jaune, "But no, I only matter...to you." the man glared at Ruby, "Me?" she asked. "But I am also VERY interested in you- wait...where's the other one?" the man began to look around frantically. "Other one? What other one?" Matt asked. "Oh, so you really DID lose your memory…" the man gave a sadistic grin. "Wha- how do you know me!?" Matt yelled, "Oh, well let's just say that you, and the girl with the red hood, have displeased our goddess…" the braid haired man responded. "What do you want?" Ruby asked in an angered tone. "Oh, the rose has thorns!" The man started to mock, "My little flower, I'm here to whisk you away with me!", "What if she doesn't want to go with you?" Nora asked, standing in the way of them. "Well...I'll take her." The man responded. "We're not gonna let you do that!" Jaune said, joining Nora. "She's staying with us!" Matt yelled. "Good…" the man said in a demonic tone.

The man suddenly disappeared, and reappeared behind Matt and Jaune. "Jaune!" Ren called out, and began to fire at the man. Jaune put up his shield, which the man took to his advantage, and began to spin on top of the shield, keeping his momentum going, and kicked Ruby while she was charging at him. Jaune slashed at the man, but missed, leaving an opening for him to get kicked twice, launching him back, giving the man time to run towards Nora. Ruby took this opportunity to fire an electric sniper rifle round towards the man, but it missed and hit Nora, hitting her back against a wall. "Well... If that isn't ironic!" The man began to scream out in laughter. "She doesn't miss a shot." Matt said calmly, as the man turned around and saw the orange haired girl standing up again. In less than a second, Nora had already got back to the man, and slammed down with Magnhild, only for the attack to be blocked by "A SCORPION TAIL?" Matt yelled out. "Surprise!" The man said creepily, and then hit up Nora's hammer with his tail, and kicked her twice, as he jumped backwards onto a building taking off his jacket.

"He's...a faunus!" Ren said, shocked. "What's this about?" Ruby yelled up to the man, "The White Fang? Roman Torchwick?", "Did you have that girl try and attack me!?" Matt asked. "Plastic soldiers and pawns!" The man yelled back, "My heart and body belong only to our goddess?", "Cinder…" Ruby whispered to Matt, but the faunus heard, "Only in her wildest dreams!" He yelled.

"So the " _other one_ " you were talking about," Matt began, "did you mean Jason?", "Ahh, that's his name...well I assume you both made it out of the cave, care to tell me where he is?", "Not a chance!" Matt spat back, "Well since we're gonna be fighting, can you at least tell me how we know each other?", "Now that...is a story to tell..." The man began "You see, you and Jason were some of the first people to really know about our goddess. At first, we tried to bring you to our side, but for some reason, all you wanted to do is disobey, and now look at where we are! Still disobeying even when you don't remember anything!" The man began to yell a little, "Maybe it's in your nature to be a brat! That's why we had to...dispose of you… You see, I left you and Jason in that cave with that Grimm! I don't know how you didn't die! You must've been hit hard enough to remain unconscious for a week! And yet, a DeathStalker, with a tail as tough as mine, couldn't take you both out… I guess I'll have to finish the job!".

The man then lunged at the group with tremendous force and began to use his tail to knock Ruby, however, she was quick to respond, and evaded, and sliced back, only for the man to dodge, and punch back at her, knocking her back a few feet. He then took this opportunity to go after Ren, and began trying to sting him. Ren narrowly dodged the tail, and Matt went for a punch, but was met with a kick to the face, launching him way behind Ruby. Ren and Jaune attacked at once, but easily knocked Ren away, and pushed Jaune back, while simultaneously blocking Nora's slam. The man then began to attack Ruby, and after clashing for a few seconds, the man kicked her away, and disarmed her, following up with another kick to her gut, completely removing her aura, and sending her into Matt, which he caught with ease in a bridal carriage pose.

"Looks like you could use a hero…" Matt said with a slight grin on his face, "Ruby...?" which she responded with a pain filled "Yeah?", "I know I said I didn't want to use this, but now is one of those moments!". Matt's hair began to glow bright purple as he put Ruby on the ground in front of him, and the ground around him began to tremble. "I haven't felt this in a long time...heh!" He then kneeled down and began to speak to Ruby. "Lil' Rose, don't EVER think fighting like this is good. I'm barely controlling myself right now, and I can feel my rage overflowing. I'm sorry you have to see me like this, and I'm sorry I couldn't protect you without using it.", "Don't be so stupid!" Ruby yelled back, "You have your ability for a reason! Yeah, you go berserk, but that's what YOU do to protect the one's you love!". "You really know how to make me feel like I'm doing the right decision, you know that?." Matt said, as he then gave a sly grin, "And by the way, you aren't wrong about using it to protect the one's I love.".

Matt then stepped in front of Ruby, and looked at his faunus target. "That's my target," Matt said to himself, and then looked back at Ruby, "and that's who I have to protect!". Ruby gave a smile to him, hearing what he said. Matt then pulled down his hood, revealing his scar. "Ohhhhh! Now how did you get that beauty?" The faunus asked, "I'd like to give you one to match on your other side of your face!", "Oh yeah?" Matt responded, "Well how about I rip open your scars and give them to the Grimm to eat?", "Did I touch a nerve?" The man questioned, while giving a menacing laugh. "You touched every one of my nerves the second you tried to attack any of us!" Matt spat out, "But I guess if you touched my nerves, then it's only fair that I do the same. Now, shall I hit you so hard that you go numb, or slice off all of your limbs?" Matt asked, which Ruby responded by saying "So am I gonna see your new weapon now?", "You'll see it very shortly!" Matt guaranteed Ruby. "Oh how funny it's gonna be when I kill you and take away your little girlfriend.". Matt just looked up again, and responded "If she's my girlfriend, then I'm gonna beat the shit out of you!" Matt said in a sarcastic tone while laughing, until he instantly looked up, with death in his eyes, and said "Oh, wait." before he screamed out, in pure anger, and his hair was now glowing ridiculously bright, and even a faint purple light could be seen coming out of Matt's mouth as he screamed. In an instant, all of the screaming stopped, and Matt's eyes darted to the faunus. "Oh, look who finally unlocked their semblance! This is gonna be FUN!", "Guys, don't get in my way!" Matt ordered, "I'm gonna kick his ass so hard he's gonna taste shoe polish!", he then began to laugh like some kind of insane person, "There's only enough room for one psycho around here, and it's gonna be ME!". Matt then lunged at the man, aiming directly for his head, with hope to instantly crack open his skull.


	40. Chapter 40 (J)

**Chapter 40 (Jason) - Split Families**

"Argh... wha- where am I?", Jason questioned in sudden confusion. He began to slowly lift himself up whilst nodding his head slowly in spite of shaking the drug away. A mysterious black figure was hidden in the shadows, "You're in one of the Atlesian cells." the figure said. "Why?" Jason questioned, but the black figure then walked out of the shadows and into the light to then reveal that he was General Ironwood, while he redirected the question to him, "Don't you remember, Jason?". As Jason stood up, he then started to remember what had happened last night, the party, the promise, and the disaster. "I really lost my head back there..." muttered Jason, "You certainly did…." he replied, "What's going to happen to me now?" questioned Jason. "Don't worry, nothing bad is going to happen to you, I give you my word. But since your actions have consequences, we can't let you leave straight away", "What do you mean?, Jason continued to question General Ironwood. "You was supposed to stay here for a month but lucky for you, I managed to cut it down to an hour. I made it one hour so you can reflect on your actions." answered Ironwood. "I guess that's a relief." replied Jason. "Listen, Jason. I completely understand how you feel, you getting angry because of the Fall of Beacon. But know this, creating hate will generate more hate. That makes you no different to the Grimm.", Jason became quiet and was frozen in place. "I have to take my leave. Until then, Jason.", as General Ironwood made his exit out of the prison, Jason had to suffer an hour of complete silence but within the silence, he sat down patiently and began to channel and store up electricity within his body, knowing that the more electricity he stores, the more stronger and faster he becomes.

After an hour had passed, a warden had appeared in front of Jason's cell, "Your time is up." he said, but Jason could not hear him, instead, he was still in a meditating stance. "Hey! I said your time was up!" shouted the warden as he opened Jason's cell. Jason, becoming startled, had released a wave of electricity which surprised the warden but did not harm him, "WATCHU' WANT!" yelled Jason, "Jeez, I said your time was up.". "Oh… I'm sorry." responded Jason, "Just… go." ordered the warden, while Jason silently took his leave.

As Jason took his first step outside of the prison, he was instantly greeted by Klein who was also standing in front of a black tinted car. "Good day, sir?" said Klein sarcastically. "By far, one of the worst..." replied Jason. Upon Klein opening the car door for Jason as well as entering the driver seat, he had driven back to the Schnee manor. "I'm going to be in trouble, aren't I?" said Jason whilst looking worried, "I'm afraid so." replied Klein. "What do you think is going to happen to me?" Jason questioned, "Well, depending on his mood, we best hope that he is on his good side. Otherwise you may be facing trouble.". Throughout the journey, Jason had started to feel more lighter than usual, as he felt electricity flow through the inside of his body.

"We're here." stated Klein. Klein questioned Jason "Sir?, Jason, looked at his hands and clenched repeatedly, "I think I got the hang of it…" he said to himself, "Hang of what, sir?". "Nothing to worry about, Klein. And thanks for the ride.", "Not a problem, sir." replied Klein. As both Jason and Klein exited the car, Klein escorted Jason towards Jacques' office, but as soon as Klein started knocking on Jacques' door, no response came. Klein then entered Jacques' office only to find the room empty. "It appears that Jacques isn't here... Would you like some tea, Sir?" added Klein. "Yeah, I could settle for that." replied Jason, "Follow me then." Klein insisted.

As Jason and Klein made their way through the hallway, Jason spotted Weiss' room. "Klein, hold up. I think we should invite Weiss with us.". Jason approached in front of Weiss' door but had heard noises coming from it. "Do you have any idea what that idiot has done to us!" shouted Jacques, "Our reputation! Our… Our…" added Jacques after giving a disappointing sigh. "I want to leave." Weiss said blankly. "I beg your pardon?" replied Jacques in a frustrated tone, "I said, I want to leave with Jason and Mia." argued Weiss, "We don't want to stay here anymore. We don't want to stay in Atlas anymore." she continued. "Young lady, I don't give a damn about what you or Jason want!", "This isn't about you. Or Jason. Or Mia." added Jacques. "This is about the Schnee family name and you and your friend, Jason, are insistent on dragging it through the mud!" he continued. "I have done nothing but fight to uphold the honor of my family name, a name that you married into!" shouted Weiss, as Jason leant closer to the door, he saw Whitley walk up to the door and copy him. "This behaviour of yours is incredibly disappointing." stated Jacques, "You couldn't possibly understand the lengths that I've gone through in order to keep this family where it is. If you think running off like your sister is going to make the Schnee name stronger, you're wrong.", "Siding with her only divides us". "I bet it was because of that boy, am I wrong?, If he hadn't been here, better yet, if he hadn't existed, all was going to be well…", "I'm not siding with anyone, and Jason hasn't got anything to do with this!", Weiss continued to yell at Jacques.

"I'm doing what I feel is right, and that does not include wasting my time up here with these clueless people in Atlas! The Schnee family legacy isn't yours to leave. It's mine. And I'll do it as a huntress." stated Weiss. Jacques objected to Weiss' statement "No… you won't. You're not leaving Atlas." Jacques continued, "You're not to leave the manor grounds until I specifically say so. You're going to remain here, out of sight and out of trouble, until you and I come into an agreement on your future.", "WHAT?!" yelled Weiss. "You're presupposition that you can simply have whatever it is you want is a clear sign of our failure as parents. But from now on, I'll be giving you the full attention you require, starting by keeping you where I can see you." said Jacques. "You can't just keep me from leaving!", "I can, and the staff here will make sure of it." replied Jacques, Weiss continued to argue back at Jacques "So now i'm just your prisoner?!". "You are my daugther. You're a child, and children are grounded when they misbehave." answered Jacques. "This is only going to make things worse, Father. People will ask questions! They'll want to know why the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company is suddenly nowhere to be found!" Weiss added. "Which is why you are no longer the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company." replied Jacques, "Excuse me?" questioned Weiss. "Clearly, the trauma you endured at the Fall of Beacon was too much for you. Which is why you generously revoked your claim to the company, and its earnings, and passed them onto your brother, Whitley.", a moment of silence was in the room until Jacques was the first to speak, "It's time to wake up and face reality.".

As Jacques had opened the door to the exit, he had stood in front of Jason. Jacques glared at Jason with despise, "Jason… I want to see you in my office… Now." he ordered. Weiss heard Jason's name and instantly had turned around and saw him, "Jason!" yelled Weiss, however, just before Weiss could meet Jason, Jacques had walked out of the room and locked the door. "What are you standing for? I said go to my office!" Jacques demanded. Jason, following his commands, had started to walk with Jacques towards his office knowing that something is going to happen.

When the two entered Jacques' office, Jacques made his way to his desk and started to talk with Jason. "You understand why you are here, don't you, Jason.", "Yeah." he responded, "Do you realise the problems that you have caused us, Jason." said Jacques, "Yeah…" answered Jason before giving off a sigh. "The reason why I had Klein to receive you from prison was because I want you to be giving your last goodbyes to everyone in the manor.". "Wait, WHAT?!" shouted Jason. "Your actions has proved...a problem for us. Not only did your selfish action put yourself in prison, but you also tattered the Schnee family name. I'm doing this the nicest way I can. I could have left you in that prison without Klein retrieving you.", "I can't let Mia stay with you!" argued Jason. "And why is that?" questioned Jacques. "You're going to raise her to become part of the Schnee family and she doesn't want anything to do with it.", "Then who's going to protect her, you?". Jason then had frozen to realise that the main reason why Mia was here in Atlas in the first place was because he wasn't strong enough to protect her. "Say your last goodbyes to everyone in this manor, pack all your things, and come back to my office, I'll be the one escorting you out.". "Fine…" replied Jason before giving of a sigh while leaving the office.

Unsure of who to visit first, Jason went back to Weiss' room, then tried to open the door but realised it was locked. "Ahhh, screw it." Jason said, as he kicked the door down. "Jason!" shouted Weiss in a surprising manner, "What happened? Are okay? Why did you kick down the door? He's gonna murder you if he finds out..." Weiss continued. "Well… It's a bit too late for that, heh…" Jason said mockingly, "What do you mean?", "Well… I might've gotten kicked out of the family." replied Jason. "YOU WHAT?!" shouted Weiss, "How?". "I caused a huge problem to the Schnee family from the stunt I pulled in the party.", "I need to go talk to my father!" stated Weiss as she stormed out, making her exit. Just before she could leave, Jason had grabbed her by the wrist, trying to stop her from walking out, "It's fine, Weiss. You don't have to do this.", "I told you before. I do not know what to do without you." she replied, while continuing to shake off Jason's hand, but he wouldn't let go. "Unhand me, I have to go talk to him, just le-", "WEISS!" shouted Jason while Weiss stood still in shock, "It's fine, you can't get yourself in more trouble.", Jason continued, "I'm not leaving for good, don't worry. I will stay nearby this manor and I promise that we will see each other. But you need to promise me something in return.", "What's that?" Weiss questioned, "I need to you to protect Mia for me and make sure she doesn't become part of Jacques' plan.". Weiss then looked at Jason and replied "Fine, I'll see if I can get you shelter over your head...", "Thank you Weiss.", Jason had then lunged into Weiss for a hug. In between the hug, Jason had began to talk to Weiss, "Can I get like...a 5 star hotel or something?" said Jason, making Weiss giggle.

As the two made their way out of Weiss' room, they made their way into Mia's room. Upon facing the door to Mia's room, Jason was frozen solid and had no idea what to say to her, "You okay, Jason?" Weiss questioned. "Yeah… It's just that…you and Mia is all I have left in my life but Mia still has no idea what happened to her family." he answered. "What exactly happened back there, you really kept quiet back at Beacon?" said Weiss. After giving a sigh, Jason had then explained what happened to him when he ran away from Beacon, including how he got his semblance and the only survivor from the village of the Grimm attack was Mia. Jason continued, "I will tell her all of this when she's old enough, but she is too young to know... Can you please keep it a secret between us?" Jason pleaded, "Okay…" replied Weiss.

As Jason opened the door to Mia's room, she was sitting near the window while looking at the bright, shattered moon. "Mia…" he uttered while approaching her slowly. As Mia turned to Jason, she slowly stood up and walked towards Jason, until both were facing each other while looking each other in the eyes. "Are you really Jason?" Mia questioned while looking scared, "Wh-a-a-what do you mean?" he replied, as he held the same expression on his face as Mia did. "The Jason that I know wouldn't…hurt someone...". "I'm sorry, Mia. But there was a reason why I did it." , Jason continued, "It was becau-", Mia had then interrupted Jason by hugging and locking her arms into Jason's neck and bringing Jason down to his knees. "It's okay... I forgive you." she whispered, "But can you promise me that you won't do that again?" continued Mia while giving a smile. Tears began to form across Jason's face, and gradually drop.

After Jason was able to gather is thoughts, Mia finally let go of him, "The reason why I came here was because...I'm here to tell you that I'm going to travel for a short while.", "When do we leave?" Mia asked, "It's...too dangerous for you to come, and I'm scared that I might lose you!" replied Jason. "Fine…" said Mia while looking sad. "I promise you that I will train you next time so you can come with me, but this one is really dangerous so I need you to sit this one out. I'm gonna be out for awhile so I'm having Snowflake here to look after you." Jason continued. "Kay." replied Mia in a depressed tone. "I have to go now, I'll see you soon, Mia.". Before Jason could leave Mia's room, Mia stopped Jason for a moment, "Jason, wait!", "What's up?" he questioned. "Can you kneel down... for one second." asked Mia, "O...kay…?" responded Jason. As Jason kneeled down towards Mia, she had took the opportunity and kissed Jason on the cheek. Shocked, Jason had then stepped back to realise what Mia had done. "H-h-hey! Mia! That's-" shouted Weiss while looking surprise then annoyed. "Goodbye Jason." said Mia while giving a grin. Jason, laughed it off, and replied "Until next time, Mia.". When Jason exited Mia's room, he heard Weiss arguing with young girl.


	41. Chapter 41 (J)

**Chapter 41 (Jason) - The Long Road Ahead**

As Jason made his way back to his room, he found his weapons on the table. While inspecting the room, he saw his Scroll, in the corner of his eye, on a wooden white chair. When Jason picked up his scroll and turned it on, he looked at the pictures of his friends. Ruby, Yang, Weiss, Blake, Ren, Nora, Jaune, Matt, Pyrrha… They all appeared on his Scroll, but when Jason looked back to his very first photo, he began to smile as the first picture he had was of Mia, when the two first met.

After packing up all of his belongings, Jason made his way towards Jacques' office to be escorted out of the manor, but he was soon greeted by Klein, "Meet me at the back garden." whispered Klein as he walked passed Jason. Continuing to make his way to Jacques' office, Jason saw Whitley giving off a smirk towards him. Jason, not knowing why he was acting different, finally faced the door to Jacques' office. Upon entering, Jacques stood up and questioned Jason, "Have you said your last goodbyes to everyone here and grabbed all of your belongings?", "Yes." he answered. "Well then, follow me." said Jacques.

As the two walked their way through hollow corridors, Jason began a conversation with Jacques. "What do you plan to do with Weiss?" questioned Jason. "What do you mean?" he asked. "You stopped her from becoming the owner of the Schnee Dust Company, and you are keeping her as practically a prisoner." replied Jason. "Maybe she wouldn't be in this mess if you haven't influenced her to become a brute.", "I didn't influence her. I think the person that raised her didn't get to know their daughter very well.", "Which is why I'm keeping a close eye on her, making sure that she gets the full attention she needs.", "Sure…" Jason muttered under his breath.

"Here we are." said Jacques as he opened the door entrance "This is our farewells. I hope you will stay safe..." he mockingly added. Jason, making his few step out of the manor, turned his body and head to glare back at Jacques to which Jacques responded to Jason's glare by shutting the entrance door fiercely. After Jason walked a few metres away from the manor, he took a path towards the back garden to which Klein had started to wave at him, alongside the butler was Weiss, who was carrying a white briefcase. When Jason came into contact with the two, Weiss was the first to speak, "Listen, I have booked the nearest hotel around here that you can find. If you just carry on North for 50 miles from here, You can stay there for the night.", "50 miles is quite far away you know…" Jason whined, "You've got a semblance that basically makes you run faster than nearly anything. Use it!" snapped Weiss. Jason, trying to find an excuse "But…", "Jason. You are getting way too big for your boots." she responded, "Anyway, here's a briefcase, you are going to need it." added Weiss. "What's inside?" Jason questioned, "Have a look inside it." she insisted. Upon opening the briefcase, Jason discovered stacks of money. "I can't take this from you! This is a lot of money!" said Jason, "Yes you can. I stole it from my father so maybe that'll teach him a lesson or two." Weiss responded. A brief moment of silence was filling the air until Weiss broke it, "I guess I can't keep you here for long, it is getting late.", "Have a safe travel sir." Klein stated. "Thank you, Klein" he said as he gave Klein a handshake, "I'll see you soon Snowflake" he added while giving Weiss a hug. Blue lightning connected the concrete floor while Jason giving a smile towards Weiss, he had left within a blink of an eye.

Upon reaching to the hotel's entrance, Jason paused and inspected himself. Under his breath, he began to whispered to himself, "Jeez...", realising that he had managed to reach the hotel in matter of seconds. As Jason took a second to admire the hotel, he found the name of the hotel which was 'Rose and Crown Hotel', he then stood in awe after seeing the hotel was touching the sky. As he entered the hotel into the foyer, looking around; chandeliers hanging, piano being played, paintings placed onto the walls, white crystal tiles brimming with light, and within that moment, Jason knew he was in a five star hotel. Making his way to the reception, he approached the receptionist, "Umm, I think that I have booked in for this hotel." said Jason, "What is your name?, I'll see if you have been registred.". "Jason Leung." replied the young man. "Yes, you have been booked here to stay...", the receptionist began to realise that the Schnee family had booked the stay for him for as long as he wants.

"This is the key to your room, If you take the elevator to the 14th floor and look for the door number 666, that will be your room.". "Thank you." Jason replied as he took the key and entered the elevator, he lifted his way up to the 14th floor. He had walked through the narrow corridors until he saw the door number 666. Becoming hesitant, he managed to muster up the courage to enter the 666th room, but what he found was nothing compare to what he had expected. Golden pot flowers invaded the room with it spreading out to the windows, shelf and on tables. While Jason spotted the king sized bed in the front right corner of the room, he took the opportunity to throw the briefcase and his weapons aside and haul himself towards the bed and became like a sloth and sank himself into the bed.


	42. Chapter 42 (M)

**Chapter 42 (Matt) - Gods Glare Down**

"ARGH!" Matt grunted as he slammed his fist into the faunus, only for his attack to be blocked by the scorpion tail. Matt continued to punch, with every passing second, more and more anger could show in his face. The man then kicked Matt off his feet, and slashed at Matt, but was blocked by Matt's shields, but still landed on the ground, while the faunus jumped on top of him and began to slash down. Matt kept on blocking all of the attacks, and waited for an opening so he could use his elbow to hit the legs of the man, crippling him for a few seconds, which was more than enough for Matt to grab onto the man's braided hair, and start to flail him around, hitting him into any solid surface in range.

Matt then let go, slamming the faunus into a wall, completely shattering anything that was struck by him. As Matt ran after him, the faunus jumped back up, and used the momentum of his tail to charge head first into Matt, forcing them to clash and push each other back by their hands. Matt then gave a headbutt, but was stopped by the man's tail, who then wrapped it around Matt's neck, and began to tighten the grip. "So you like to slam things around?" The man asked, "Then I'll show you what it's like!". The man then began to laugh like a maniac as he slammed Matt into everything with tremendous force, while simultaneously tightening his grip, choking Matt.

"Any last words?" The man asked as he brought Matt in front of him, in the air, with his tail. Matt could then look over the man's shoulder, and could see Ruby, barely still in a lot of pain. "Get angry, Matt!" Ruby yelled out, "Do it, or I swear, that scar will be the least of your worries!". Matt then gave a grin at Ruby, knowing that she was trying to power up his semblance. Matt then hit the tail once, and it began to shudder all the way down to the man's body, forcing him to let go. "Damn it!" The man yelled out in pain.

As Matt landed, he yelled over to Ruby "You ready to see a show, Lil' Rose?", he then began to expand his shield down his arm, creating the sharp blade-like edges. The man used his wrist-blades to land some quick blows to Matt's chest, but Matt was too fast, and dodged to the side, and slashed at the faunus' chest. "Should I give you a few more scars?" Matt asked as he began to scream in laughter. The man joined him in laughter, and then aggressively screamed out "DIE!" ah he charged at Matt again. Matt attempted to slice, but the man dodged and jumped onto the blade and kickflipped Matt, while grabbing onto his leg with the scorpion tail. The man slammed Matt onto the ground, and tried to pierce his chest with the stinger, but Matt grabbed ahold of it, and dragged it closer to him, causing the faunus to move closer. When he got close enough, Matt grabbed the man by the neck, slammed him into the ground, and then threw him into a wall. While Matt was getting back up, he saw the man was already back up, but was rushing towards Ruby, with his stinger ready. As Matt got back up, he dropped to his knees, knowing he was going to pass out from how much aura and semblance he used. In his last few moments of consciousness, he saw a figure dive in front of Ruby, then everything went black.

"Matt! Matt! MATT!" Matt jolted awake in the middle of a forest, at night, with a slight pain across his face, and Ruby standing over him after slapping him. "Oww! Oh, hey Lil' Rose." Matt gave a little smile, before he grabbed his head and asked "What happened?", "Well ya see, kid," Matt heard a familiar, but croaky voice coming from a nearby log, "you had some pent up anger, didn't ya?", "Qrow?" Matt asked, "How did you get here?", "That's a long story, and I'll get around to it, but first we need to talk. That semblance of yours is something very powerful.". Matt looked across the makeshift camp Ruby had made, and saw Ren, Jaune, and Nora sitting on separate logs, trying to warm up around a fire. "It's just because I haven't used it in a while." Matt explained, but Qrow was quick to respond. "No. There's something more to it than that. I heard you from at least a mile away, and it sounded like pure rage. How did you unlock your semblance?" Qrow asked. "I-I was fighting to protect someone, and over time, I got angrier and angrier. Eventually, I got so angry that my semblance activated.", "And what exactly is your semblance?" Qrow continued to question.

"Well, I was told that it spends time charging up. It has three stages, and either goes up a stage after a week, or goes up depending on how angry I get, but it's very tough for me to use it right after already using it. But it mainly activates when someone needs protecting, however I go insane and do whatever I can to protect people.". Qrow gave a slight smirk, and responded, "Sounds like Oz never told you everything then, huh? I'm not surprised. You and that other kid couldn't be fully trusted since no one knew anything about you. But now we know that you really don't have any bad intentions, especially while you were guarding Ruby with your life. Thanks, by the way. Ozpin had his eyes on you and Jason for a while, making sure that you both weren't up to any good, and it's a good job you weren't, because with the anger you have, I'd feel sorry for most other hunters and huntresses in training that pissed you off.".

Ruby looked at Qrow and asked "So what? Was Ozpin lying to Matt about his semblance?", "No, he just didn't tell him the entirety of it." Qrow explained, "Oz did want to tell you, but he had to be sure it was safe to tell you-". Jaune interrupted, "But he never got a chance did he? He died when he was fighting Cinder…and that's what caused Pyrrha to go against her as well.". Matt looked around, and then back to Qrow, "So, what IS my semblance?". Qrow gave a slight sigh, and then said "Your semblance is very similar to how Ozpin described it, but there's one thing he didn't tell you. When you activate your semblance, there's no doubt that it's stronger in it's last stage, but what you don't know, is that it's gets stronger the more you care about the person you're protecting, and how much anger you feel towards whoever you're fighting.". Matt looked up at the sky, and then back down towards Ruby, "So I got that strong because I was protecting you? Or was it because of you much I felt anger towards that scorpion faunus?", "Well," Ruby began, "while you were going crazy you sort of tried to say that if you kicked his ass, we were a couple...", "Oh, yeah...heh..." Matt gave a small, but obviously nervous laugh, "I guess it was just in the heat of the moment. Sorry Lil' Rose. I didn't want to worry you that much.". "Worry me?" Ruby asked, "You didn't worry me when you used your semblance. I know that you were trying your hardest to keep me safe. I actually felt safe while you was fighting him, which is a shock because nearly all of us got messed up by him!". Matt then looked over at Qrow, and saw a bandage covered all around his waist. "What happened to you?" Matt asked, "Oh well after you passed out, me and the faunus had a little fight, but he got the upper hand. Fortunately Ruby was able to get a good slash at him, and cut off his stinger, but he already stung me.". "So you were both pretty badass?" Matt asked, which got a chuckle from Qrow, "But not as badass as you for taking him on for so long." Ruby said. "Don't get me wrong," Qrow began, "what you did was something many of us couldn't. If you got that angry in any fight, there's no doubt that you may even be a bit of a challenge for someone like me! I might've even payed to watch you and Yang go one-on-one if she was...up for fighting again... Hell, you even managed to weaken that stinger. If you didn't, I don't know if Ruby would've been able to cut through it…".

"Qrow, how did you get to us, and how did you know that Ruby was in trouble?", "Well-" Qrow began to answer until he was cut off by Jaune, "Because he's been following us. He was using us as a lure to get Cinder, but instead, someone else came after us on behalf of her.". That guy that came after you, was a man called Tyrian.". Matt looked confused, and then asked "Qrow, what is going on?", "Well ya see," Qrow responded, "I already told these but to put it simply, there were once four Maidens that all helped an old man enjoy life again. As a gift, the man gave these Maidens abilities that were all based on the types of seasons, that required no Dust, to help the rest of the world. But these powers didn't come without certain rules. If the person who possessed these powers died, the powers can only only go to a young woman, and would go to the person that was last in their thoughts. If the last person in their thoughts was a dude or some old hag, the powers would go to another random person, and my job gets a lot harder. You see, my job is to protect the Maidens, but one was attacked. A girl called Amber, who possessed these powers, was attacked by Cinder, and was barely kept alive with Atlas technology in a type of vault underneath Beacon tower. Cinder somehow managed to steal some of her powers, but not all of it. As a last resort, we tried to pass these powers on to Pyrrha, but Amber died during the Fall of Beacon, and Cinder got the rest of her powers. The Maidens powers are beyond anything we could imagine, so someone who has that kind of power, and evil, isn't good.".

"So," Matt began, "what if we killed Cinder?", "What!?" Ruby yelled out, "Are you serious about wanting to kill her?". "We aren't killing her!" Qrow yelled as he slammed his fist on to a log. Matt sighed, "I shouldn't have said it, I'm sorry. It's just...a lot to take in.". "Considering Tyrian came after us instead of her, she's most likely in hiding.". "Why was Tyrian after me?" Ruby asked. "I told you having silver eyes is a rare trait, and the fact that you're someone that was able to use them seems to have upset some very powerful people. Not many people knew about the silver eyes, but those that do aren't very happy that one has surfaced. And if what Ruby told me is right, then they're gonna want to come at us even harder since you used to be against them.".

"The schools are coming under attack, Ruby is being hunted! Will you just tell us what's going on!" Jaune yelled while pacing around the campfire. "Sit down kid, you're stressing me out!" Qrow responded. As Jaune sat down, Qrow took a swig of his drink, and began to talk "Not many people are super religious these days. This world's been around for a long time, long enough for the world to create dozens of gods. But if you believe Ozpin, two of them are actually real. They were brothers. The older sibling, the God of light, found joy in creating forces of life. Meanwhile, the younger brother, the God of darkness, spent his time creating forces of destruction. As you can imagine, they both had pretty different ideas about how things should go. The older one would spend his days creating water, plants, wildlife. And at night, his brother would wake to see all the things that the elder had made and become disgusted. To counteract his brother's creations, the God of darkness brought drought, fire, famine, all that he could do to rid Remnant of life. But life always returned. So one night, the younger brother went and made something. Something that shared his innate desire to destroy anything and everything.", "You mean the creatures of Grimm?" Matt asked, "You guessed it." Qrow continued, "The older brother had finally had enough. Knowing that their feud couldn't last like this forever, he proposed they make one final creation. Together. Something they could both be proud of. Their masterpiece. The younger brother agreed. This last great creation would be given the power to both create and destroy. It would be given the gift of knowledge, so that it could learn about itself and the world around it. And most importantly, it would be given the power to choose, to have free will to take everything it had learned and decide which path to follow: The Path of Light...or the Path or Darkness. And that is how humanity came to be.

"But…" Ren began to ask, "what does this have to do with us?", "Well, that's the kicker." Qrow said, "See, the four gifts to mankind: knowledge, creation, destruction, and choice...aren't just metaphorical. Each of them exist in a physical form, left behind by the Gods before they abandoned Remnant, and each of them is extraordinarily powerful. If someone were to collect all four, then they'd be able to change the world. That's exactly what the enemy wants. The Huntsman Academies were created to train generation of humanity's protectors, but they also serve another purpose: guarding the relics. When Ozpin's predecessor founded the schools, he built them around the relics to act as a fortress. Not only would they be easier to defend, but they would be constantly surrounded by trained warriors. The hope was that hiding the relics would keep mankind from using them against itself. And of course, keeping them out of her reach.". "Her?" Matt asked. "Salem." Qrow responded, "Not much is known about her and quite frankly, that's not what matters. What matters right now is that she wants the relics, and if she gets them, it's not gonna end well.".

"Alright," Jaune spoke out. "So let's say we believe all this. There really is this crazy evil behind these attacks, not just some thugs trying to be powerful. Why doesn't the world know? Why isn't Atlas going after them, or Mistral?", "And why aren't we in more of a hurry to get to Haven?" Nora asked, "Shouldn't we be giving them a message? What if they're next?". Qrow responded "The headmaster over there saw what happened to Beacon. He's not dumb. He'll be on his guard. Besides, it takes time to mobilize forces like that. Do you really think they planned that attack on Beacon overnight? And to answer your question," Qrow pointed at Jaune, "it's the same reason we keep quiet about the Maidens. If the whole world knew about the relics, about Salem, there would be chaos. We'd have another Great War on our hands, and this time, you'd have to fight. Look, I had the same questions too. But ol' Ozpin always put his foot down. "We can't cause a panic.". Heh, I can't tell you how many times I've heard that. Salem's smart. She works from the shadows, using others to get what she wants, so that when it comes time to place the blame, we can only point at each other. She's trying to divide us - humanity. And so far, she's done a pretty damn good job.".

"Alright." Ruby said, "So what should we do?", "Heheh, I don't really know." Qrow responded, "Ozpin has put a lot of trust in the headmasters. Like I said, the schools are an important past of stopping Salem. Atlas is gonna be on high alert after the last attack, and Vacuo is...well, Vacuo. It'll be hard to hire thieves and scoundrels to fight against other thieves and scoundrels. Take that, add in the fact that Cinder and her crew claim to be from Haven, and I think it's likely the next target. So, we're on our way to the headmaster. Haven't heard from him in a while, even before the attack. I'm hoping he has the answers. Alright," Qrow then stood up, "I think it's time for you kids to get some rest.".

"Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked, "This is a lot to take in, and it all sounds crazy...but...I'm willing to do whatever I can to help because I trust you. But why couldn't you trust me? Why couldn't you travel with us instead of all of this secrecy, and...and-", "Look, this had nothing to do with trust." Qrow said, "I-It's a long story, okay?". Matt stood up with Ruby, "Hasn't this all just been a long story? Even before my fight with Tyrian, I've been told things I'd never expect. Like how I supposedly already knew about Salem and tried to stop them, and now there are Maidens just roaming around possibly getting hunted as well, as well as some gods that created us, and then abandoned us to fend for ourselves. Qrow, I might not have much of a right to say this, but Ruby deserves to know everything. She's been through enough, and even though she's a few months younger than I am, she's ready. We're all ready!", "Did you know that crows are a sign of bad luck?" Qrow asked, "Old superstition, but it's how I got my name. You see, some people can absorb electricity, some can burst into rose petals, and some can use their rage to give them strength, and some people...are just born unlucky. My semblance isn't like most. It's not exactly something I do. It's always there, whether I like it or not. I bring misfortune. I guess you could call me a bad luck charm. Comes in real handy when I'm fighting an enemy, but it makes it a little hard on friends...and family.". "Well, you're just a real bundle of help, aren't you?" Jaune said. "Shut it, Jaune." Matt growled back. Qrow began to walk away, but turned around to look at Matt, "Thank you, for saving Ruby. You really are going to go a long way. And Ruby, if you want to help, make sure that everyone," he then began to snicker," including you and your boyfriend, get some sleep.", "He's not my-", Ruby got cut off, "I'm going for a walk, Qrow said, as he walked into the away from the team.

"He's not wrong." Matt said, which Ruby turned around a gave a confused glare, "About needing some sleep! We've been through a lot today, and we need time to rest, and figure stuff out.", "When did you become the leader?" Nora asked as a joke. "Well since you all still can't decide which one is the leader, I'll take the lead role. I think team MNJRR sounds good.", But it's not a colour." Ren argued back, but Matt was quick to respond, "Well neither was team MJ, and yet that team was formed. It may have been because it was a special exception of a two-man team, but this team is also a special exception of a group of five.". Matt joked back "And besides, everyone thinks I'm dating Ruby, so that's gotta give me some kind of advantage, right?". "We aren't dating so no advantage for you!" Ruby yelled, which made Nora giggle. "Oh come on, Ruby. He did give you that cute nickname, what was it? Lil' Rose? Hahahaha!". "You know," Ren said, "it's been awhile since Matt has had any sort of joke with all of us. Maybe we should make it last while his hair, and semblance stage, is like this. So what are we gonna call them? Rutt, or Maby?". "None! We are going with none!" Ruby yelled out, but Matt whispered over to the rest of the group, "I think she wants to keep it a secret! Yang might kill me if she ever found out!". Ren and Nora laughed, but Jaune just walked away, and got into his sleeping bag. "Alright, alright. We'll stop. I guess it's time we got some sleep anyway.". The rest of the group got into their own sleeping bags, thinking about what Salem's next move could be.

The next day, Matt was woken up the the sounds of coughing. While Matt sat up, he saw Ruby run past him, and saw Qrow sat against a tree, coughing into his hands. As Matt made his way over, he saw what seemed to be some sort of purple toxin mixed with blood all over Qrow's gut, where he was stung, and his hands. "That's unfortunate…" Qrow said to Ruby, as he slumped down.


	43. Chapter 43 (J)

**Chapter 43 (Jason) - Familiar Faces**

Upon Jason's awakening from his slumber, he heard multiple knocks coming from the door, "I don't need housekeeping!" Jason moaned, but the knocking continued even after Jason's moaning, until he had enough, and jumped out of his bed,"Ugh, I'm coming!" yelled Jason. As Jason approached the door, without looking through the eye hole, he instantly opened the door in anger to see who was the one who disturbing him, but he didn't expect a familiar face to visit him. "Hiya good looking.", "J-J-Jess…?" exclaimed Jason, "What are you doing here?". "What do you mean 'what am I doing here?' My family booked this hotel for the night after the party.". Jess continued to talk to Jason, "You sure as hell know how to...crash...a party." she joked. Giving Jason a slight chuckle, he questioned Jess, "So how did you know I was here?", "I was with my family while they were trying to get a room for me and my sister. Bored as usual, I looked around the hotel to see what could entertain me and lo and behold, I. Find. You..". He continued to question Jess, "What did you do after that?", "I stalked you." replied Jess, "Wait. What!" shouted Jason. "I stalked you until you went into your room and that's how I knew which room to knock on in the morning.".

"Why do I feel like you are just using me for something…?" Jason asked Jess. Jess gave a soft sigh and leapt further towards Jason, she had then tiptoed to reach Jason's height and gently kissed him on the cheek. As Jess walked backwards away from Jason, she began to speak to him "I'm being serious about this… You do interest me.". Realising what had just happened, Jason became surprised and turned red. "So… there's this shopping centre near the Schnee manor I want to go to. I want you to come with me." Jess said. "Why not go with your sister?", "She's still asleep and I don't want to go by myself." she replied. "I guess I can come..." Jason responded, knowing that at least he will keep an eye on Weiss and Mia from afar. "That's great!" yelled Jess in excitement as he tugged Jason's arm to the elevator and out of the hotel.

"Ummm… How do we get there?" questioned Jess while looking clueless, "Wait, so you didn't actually plan anything beforehand?" Jason said mockingly. "Nope!" she proudly replied. Jess began to speak "So is there a taxi or a train nearby we ca-", she was instantly cut off by Jason as he carried her to the shopping centre in an instant. "Okay… What just happened?" as she looked around, in shock from Jason moving her so fast.. "Don't worry, I brought us here. It's part of my semblance.", "That's...pretty cool..." stated Jess. "Well since we're here, we might as well get shopping." she continued while also tugging Jason's arm around. As Jess took Jason to clothes store, Jess took multiple clothes with her. "Do you mind waiting here." asked Jess, "Not a problem.." replied Jason. As Jess took multiple clothes to the fitting room, Jason waited for a few minutes until she popped out of the fitting room. "What do you think about this dress?" she questioned, "It looks nice on you." replied Jason. "Then I'll buy it..". As Jason had to suffer from Jess's dressing habits, he waited for hours until she had no clothes to try out. They finally made it out of the store with Jason holding many bags. "I want to try that store out." Jess said, but before Jason could reply, he heard an explosion from afar. Looking around to find the explosion, he saw part of the Schnee manor crumble. Upon further inspection, Jason saw that it was coming from Weiss' room. "I have to go..." he said worryingly. Before Jess could say anything, Jason dropped the bags and left to see Weiss.

Upon Jason entering through the window, he instantly looked around the room to find Weiss. "Weiss are you alri- What is that?" he questioned as he gazed upon a white knight which was emitting a light blue mist. "Jason?" said Weiss while looking surprised. "This is great that you're here." she added, "I need a favour, Klein.", "What will it be?" replied Klein. "I need you to help us get a ship and fly us to Haven where my sister is.", "Understood, but that may be a...little problematic..." he responded as he left the room. "What about me?" questioned Jason, "You're coming with us as well." said Weiss. "We will leave tonight and don't worry, I'll bring Mia with us." she announced, "I'll let you know what time we will leave through your Scroll. But for now, you should go back to the hotel before my father finds out you're here." continued Weiss. "Nah, it'll be fine." said Jason, "In fact I could help you train a bit before I go back to the hotel." he added. "I'd...like that." said Weiss. When Jason and Weiss began to walk through the corridors, Jason questioned Weiss, "Is Mia okay?", "She's been… sad." replied Weiss. "What do you mean by that?", "She misses you."."Do you mind if we see her." he requested, "She's out with father and Whitley." responded Weiss, "But when she gets back, I'll let her know about the plan." she added. "Anyways, how did you know about the explosion, I didn't even let you know about it." said Weiss, "Well I met Jess, we went shopping together and…" as Jason paused, he noticed that Weiss had taken on an irritated look. "I told you to stay away from her.", "Well… she was living on the same hotel.". Weiss giving a sigh had asked Jason to stay away from her. "Okay" he replied.

"Here we are." said Weiss in a jolly tone as she presented Jason into a large spacial hall. "So is this where you mainly train?" he questioned while walked in and looked around, "Yes." replied Weiss. "We should get started!" said Jason as he went into position and waited for Weiss. "I'm ready." she stated while in an act of summoning the same knight that Jason saw earlier. "Alright, I'll attack first." said Jason just as he summoned three electric Beowolf to attack the knight. One of the Beowolf's lunged in front of the knight in an attempt to damage, it but the knight raised its sword with two hands and impaled it. The other two beowolfs attacked from each side but the knight made a downward diagonal slice to the right beowolf while he spun around to greet the other beowolf by grabbing its throat. Scratching the knights arm, the beowolf continued to struggle until the knight had started to slowly crush its throat to which led the beowolf to disintegrate.

"Not too bad." said Jason as he summoned one electrical Ursa. When the Ursa charged towards the knight, it met the knight and began to stand on its feet, trying to crush the knight by stomping it but the knight had attempted to block it by using its sword as a shield. He pushed the Ursa back and when the Ursa was standing, the knight spun and made a heavy horizontal slash on the Ursa, cutting it in half. "That's one nasty knight..." said Jason, "Can you make anything else?". "No... This is the best I can do at the moment." replied Weiss, "I guess I can start training you up then so you can create anything.".

As Jason helped Weiss train for an hour, it was time for Jason to go back to the hotel as Klein informed the two that Jacques, Whitley and Mia had returned from their meeting. When Jason and Weiss left the hall, they went back into Weiss' room to which before Jason left through the window, Weiss thanked him for training her before he left. "I'll see you soon Weiss." said Jason, leaving Weiss with a smile. As he ran back to the hotel, he soon realised that he left Jess alone in the shopping centre. He hurried back and tried to find her. Jason looked in each corner of the shops but couldn't find her, he returned back to the hotel, hoping to find her. After entering his room, he saw a note that was found underneath his door. It said

"Dear Jason,

I made it back to the hotel surprisingly but today was the last time I could spend some time with you. I definitely had fun today but I hope we can meet up again.

Yours faithfully, Jessica Scarlett.".

After Jason had finished reading the note, it left a smile upon his face. He had then used the time he had left into gathering up electricity like last time.


	44. Chapter 44 (M)

**Chapter 44 (Matt) - Calm Before the Storm/Crazed Calmness**

"Just...hold on, Uncle Qrow." Ruby grunted while she was carrying Qrow at the front of a makeshift stretcher, Jaune carrying the back, and Matt, Nora, and Ren on guard. "Tai…" Qrow began to say, unaware of his surroundings, "She's not...coming…" before coughing again. "He's getting worse." Jaune told Ruby. "How much farther?" Ruby asked, which Nora responded hopefully with "We've gotta be close.". "Without the map, there's no way of knowing." Ren informed, "But I feel like we're close to something.". Suddenly, Ren began to run towards a sign, "What is it?" Ruby yelled over, "Are there any directions?" Matt added. "Hey, Mistral!" Nora said excitedly as she ran up next to Ren, and then saw the rest of the sign. "Does it say how close?" Ruby yelled over. "No." Ren responded, "And it looks like the path takes us up through the mountains.".

Ruby and Jaune both put down Qrow. "Guys," Jaune started, "I don't know if all of us can make that climb.". Everyone looked towards Qrow, who was still coughing. "Okay. Well, what about this place?" Ruby asked, as she pointed towards a sign pointing to the left, towards a place called Kuroyuri. "Is there any chance of finding help there?" Matt asked. "That village was destroyed years ago." Ren said. "But if it takes us around the mountains, it's the best bet we've got." Jaune stated. "It will take too long.", The town would have had a doctor, right?" Ruby asked, "Maybe we could scavenge for medicine!". "We're not going to find anything there. We just have to press on!" Ren began to yell. "Ren, why're you acting like-", "We can split up." Nora said, cutting of Jaune. "Huh?" Ruby said. "Ren and I can cut through the mountains while you three take Qrow through the village." Nora explained.

"Nora, that's a terrible idea!" Matt said, "If we come across anything else even half as tough as Tyrian, we'll need all the help we can get!.", "He's right." Jaune agreed, "We're supposed to stick together. We need to keep each other safe., "We don't have time for safe! If we make it to Mistral, we'll bring back help!" Nora continued her explanation, "If we don't we'll at least get a better view of the land! Up there, we can see if there's somewhere else we can go!". Qrow began to cough again, which caught everyone's attention. "This is dumb…" Matt said to himself. "Okay." Jaune said, as he hugged Ren, "Just take care of each other.". "We always have." Nora said, as Jaune and Ruby began to pick up Qrow. "I swear, if either of you die, I'm gonna kill you!" Matt yelled after them. "I wouldn't give you the satisfaction!" Ren yelled back as they moved out of eyesight. "They'll be fine, Jaune." Ruby said trying to reassure him. "Yeah!" Matt agreed as he patted Jaune on the shoulder, "They've looked after each other this far, they'll be safe.".

As the trio moved onward, they eventually saw a large sign reading ' _Kuroyuri_ ', and past it, was ruins of an old city. "This place looks like a ghost town…" Matt commented. "Come on." Ruby ordered as they made their way closer towards the center of the town. "Any of these places look like a pharmacy?" Ruby asked, which Matt responded with "I can't tell at all. Nearly all the buildings have some sort of damage, and that's putting it lightly.".

"Ren really didn't want to come here, did he?" Ruby questioned Jaune, "Uh...didn't seem so." Jaune responded. "Do you know why?" Matt asked. Jaune sighed, "I have a pretty good idea... After a while of being on the team, Ren and Nora opened up more about their past. They mentioned the place they grew up, a place called Kuroyuri… They described the village to be bright, and beautiful. In fact, it's where Ren and Nora first ever met. Ren said that he heard laughing, and went to check it out. As he got there, he saw multiple kids picking on a certain orange-haired girl. Nora was on the ground, being mocked in old rags, as she held a piece of bread close to her, she must have been starving… Eventually, the other kids began to push Nora around, and as Ren got closer, he heard them calling her every name under the sun. Ren freaked out, and began to run away, only to be stopped by his father. He lectured Ren on how doing nothing can be a lot worse, which is more than likely why Ren is now a hunter in training, so he can help people, instead of doing nothing.".

"Later that night, Ren woke up to hear growling from some odd kind of Grimm. While his mother was comforting him...his home collapsed, landing on her… His father saved him...only just. His dad was carrying him to safety, but realised that the Grimm were catching up. His father sacrificed himself so more people could escape. Ren ran as fast as he could, and got to safety underneath a bridge. He was forced to watch everyone, and everything he loved get destroyed. As Ren looked around, he saw Nora hiding under an already destroyed house, sobbing, attracting creatures of Grimm . In the moments Ren needed it the most, Ren unlocked his semblance. He describes it as almost like an emotion dampener. He was able to forget about his fears, and ran over to Nora, and was completely ignored by any Grimm. As Ren made it underneath the house, a Nevermore landed on top of it, searching for Nora's cries. As Nora gripped onto Ren from fear, he was able to transfer his semblance over to her, making them both immune to their emotions, and all creatures of Grimm. They came face to face with a Nevermore, and were completely ignored! The pair managed to get out alive, and have been together ever since.". Jaune finished his tale, as the group made it to the center of town, and stood underneath an enormous, old tree.

Jaune grabbed ahold of his weapon as he heard a large roar. "It's far off." Ruby said. "I know, but Ren and Nora are still out there." Jaune replied. "I'm sorry." Ruby said. "What?" Jaune and Matt said simultaneously, " This is all my fault. I never should have dragged you guys into this.", "You didn't drag us in. We wanted to come." Jaune responded, "Yeah," Matt added, "There's nowhere I'd rather be than with this team, knowing that we're all still well.", "But you didn't know about Tyrian-", "Ruby," Matt began, "none of us knew about Tyrian, not even you. But fighting him, and how you described me while fighting, has helped me grow. You told me that you felt safe when I used my semblance, and that's the first time anyone has ever said that, despite my crazy side. Because I know that I can use my semblance to make people feel safe, I'm confident in my abilities. I should be thanking you for letting me come along!".

Jaune carried on, "We lost...we lost Pyrrha. We all lost her. And Penny, and your team, and in a way, even your sister. Hell, Matt even lost a piece of his face. But you're still here, despite everything you've lost, and everything you could still lose, you CHOSE to come out here. Because you felt like you could make a difference. You didn't drag us along. You gave us the courage to follow you.". "Group hug?" Matt asked, trying to lighten the mood, as he dragged in both Jaune and Ruby into a hug, while another roar could be heard, but this time, a lot closer.


	45. Chapter 45 (M)

**Chapter 45 (Matt) - Friends and Family Bonds**

"Guys…" Matt said as he pulled away from the hug, "I think I hear something coming.". Jaune, Ruby, and Matt got their weapons ready, only to see Ren and Nora running through the village towards them. "What are you guys doing here?" Ruby asked, which was followed by Jaune saying "Did you hear that noise? What was that!?". Ren then dropped to his knees and began to mutter, "No…". "Wait, do you guys hear that?" Jaune asked. "No…" Ren continued. "Ren?" Nora asked to see if her partner was alright.

As Matt turned to see where Ren was looking, he saw a huge Grimm that took the shape of a horse, with a rider that seemed to be almost stuck to the back of the horse Grimm. It's arms dropped down like elastic, and a face with a white mask and horns, and mouth that seemed almost sown together. "That's...something new…" Matt said to himself, "What is that thing?", "It's-it's...it's the monster that destroyed my home." Ren struggled to say, "Nuckelavee is what it's called.". "Are you certain that's the same one that destroyed your home?" Jaune asked, which Nora responded with "Positive." as she looked at the creatures back where remains of other weapons impaled it. "Alright, let's destroy this thing then!" Matt yelled as he charged head first. "Matt! No!" Ren yelled, but it was too late, the Grimm's arms sprung forward, and slammed Matt into a wall, and then swung its other arm at the rest of the team, knocking them back, away from Qrow.

"Gonna feel that in the morning…" Matt said as he rejoined the team, and helped up Jaune. "Have we got a plan?" Matt asked, which Jaune replied with "Survive!". The Nuckelavee began moving forward with its horse part of the body, while the human part slumped down, until it sprung to life, and screeched, stunning everyone on the battlefield. Once Jaune was prepared, he charged directly to Qrow's aid, jumping over the Grimm's stretched arm, however, Nuckelavee began to charge straight for him. "Now, Ren!" Nora commanded. Ren sighed, and put his hand on the ground, and began to use his semblance on Jaune and Qrow, making them seem invisible to the Grimm. "Just get him to safety!" Ren yelled, as Jaune got behind a building, and laid Qrow against a wooden slab.

Nora fired her grenade launcher to get the Grimm's attention, while Ruby dodged an attack, and launched herself into the air using her sniper, and fired down, only to be slammed against the ground from the Grimm's stretched arm. Nora attempted a dodge, but was struck by the Grimm's second arm. Ren then began to fire from behind it while running, but he wasn't fast enough, and Nuckelavee grabbed Ren's arms. "Guys!" Jaune yelled out, "Keep moving in circles!". Nora then fired Magnhild at the Grimm, causing it to lose it's grip Ren.

The team then began to move in circles, and fire their weapons constantly, while Jaune waited for a chance to slash at the Grimm's legs. Once Jaune found his opportunity, he cut at the Nuckelavee's legs, but it felt nothing, and kicked Jaune with it's hind legs, sending him backwards, landing next to Ruby. Matt then fired Anngotic, using the Dust converter to fire gravity Dust shots underneath it, trying to force it to the ground, but the Grimm was too strong, and kept itself up, while gradually making its way towards Matt.

Matt looked behind Nuckelavee, and saw Jaune sheathe his sword into his shield. "Jaune! What the hell do you think you're doing!?" Matt yelled over, thinking Jaune was leaving everyone else to fight. Jaune then reactivated his weapon, with his shield creating a two handed sword where the shield went across the sword, making it heavier, but also sharper and capable of dealing powerful blows. Jaune charged forward, and Ruby fired Crescent Rose, distracting it from Jaune, and keeping Matt safe. Jaune too another slice at the Grimm's leg, and caused it to cry out in pain, making it recoil backwards. Nuckelavee began to spin it's human-like form, making it's arms spin around crazily, slamming into everyone, knocking them down.

The bones on the spine of the Grimm began to grow outwards, and Nuckelavee screeched, making Ruby and Jaune hold their heads from pain. Ren took the opportunity to begin firing, and ran up a tree, only to be grabbed by Nuckelavee, and slammed against a wall, trapping him in it's arms, and prepared it's second arm for an attack. "Ruby!" Nora yelled, and immediately Ruby put her scythe behind her, and Nora jumped on. Ruby began to spin, before Nora jumped off Crescent Rose, and intercepted the attack. When Ren looked around to see he hadn't been hurt, he looked up and saw Nora holding onto Magnhild, which was being held against the wall by Nuckelavee. As everyone looked up towards the pair, Nora yelled out "Stop looking!" as she realised everyone could look up her skirt, which led to Matt, Jaune, and Ren looking away.

The Grimm then began to drag Magnhild, and subsequently Nora, and slammed onto the ground, making Nora lose her grip, and her aura depleted. Ren began to slash back and forth at the Grimm, and impaled StormFlower into its arm, and forced the arm away, making Ren drop onto the ground. Ren made a quick recovery, and charged carelessly towards the Grimm, only to get knocked away, but then charge again. "Ren! Knock it off!" Jaune yelled, while Matt followed it up with "You're gonna get yourself killed!". The Grimm then grabbed at Ren's legs, and slammed him against the ground, making him lose his grip of StormFlower, and threw next to Nora, making his aura drop to nothing.

Nuckelavee prepared itself for a charge, while Ren stood back up, to attempt to stop the attack. As the Grimm rushed forward, Nora jumped forward, grabbed Ren, and dragged him underneath a house. As Ren slowly got back up to look out, he saw Jaune blocking with his two handed sword, Crocea Mors, only for him to be knocked back, and Ruby firing shots from far away. Nuckelavee took its attention towards Ruby, and reached out towards her.

In a split second, Matt jumped in front of Ruby, and pushed with all of his might to stop the attack from getting through. "Move it!" Matt screamed towards Ruby, which worried her at first at his outburst, but then launched herself onto a building, and kept on dodging the other arm. Ruby kept on moving, and eventually landed next to Jaune. "He needs help!" Jaune said, as he looked over at Matt, who was still struggling against the arm. "On it!" Ruby yelled, as she ran at full speed, creating rose petals where she ran, and picked up Matt so fast that the Nuckelavee struggled to realise where he went. Ruby, who was now almost dragging Matt, regrouped with Jaune, as well as Ren and Nora who were getting out from underneath the house. "Damn...you weigh...too much!" Ruby said, while taking deep breaths. "No," Matt responded, "you just can't lift objects.", "Yeah, heavy objects!" Ruby snapped back.

Ruby, who finally had her breath back, called over to Ren, "Jaune and I can take care of its arms.", "I'll take care of the horse." Nora said. "I'll take care of the rest." Ren said, as he began to rotate a dagger that he held in his hand. "What about you?" Nora asked to Matt. Matt took down his hood, showing his scarred face, "I'm gonna hit it, really, really, REALLY, hard!".

"Let's do it!" Ruby ordered, and Nora jumped up a building, using Magnhild to get extra momentum. Ruby then fired at the Nuckelavee, and dodged an attack from the Grimm that slammed one of it's arm into the ground. Ruby jumped up, and fired her sniper behind her to get more speed. In mid air, the second arm launched towards her, which Ruby dodged, and used Crescent Rose to hook around and swing off. Ruby fired in the air, and then towards the air, which launched her towards the ground. The Grimm tried for another attack, but Ruby was too fast, jumped into the air again, transformed Crescent Rose into a war scythe, and slammed back down, impaling Crescent Rose into the Grimm's wrist and the ground, stopping it from moving.

Ren the threw his dagger like a boomerang, which landed in the side of the horse. Jaune, with only his sword, stood in front of the Nuckelavee. The Grimm launched its other arm at Jaune, but Ren intercepted the attack using Jaune's shield, keeping it against the ground while Jaune stabbed the arm in the same place Ruby did, stopping it from moving. Matt then jumped behind the Nuckelavee, but was nearly kicked by it's hind legs. "Not! Today!" Matt yelled out as he grabbed the left leg, and punched it with so much force the leg nearly shattered. Matt then spun around, and punched the other leg, forcing it to pop out in the front. Matt, who looked at messed up leg, turned around and retching. "I think I'm gonna be sick…" Matt said, as Ren screamed "Nora!", which signalled Nora to launch into the air, and spin at top speed, firing Magnhild all the way down, slamming down on the horse part of the Grimm, killing the horse part of the Grimm.

The Grimm began yelling in pain as Ren walked up, grabbed the dagger from Nuckelavee. As Ren stood in front of the immobilized Grimm, it roared directly in his face. Ren spun around the dagger, and sliced off it's left arm, spinning the arm in a crazy fashion from it being stretched. The Grimm began flailing it's body around, but Ren grabbed it by the horns, and cut off the other arm. Ren then sliced at Nuckelavee's chest, creating another shriek from the Grimm. "For myself!" Ren yelled, as he sliced off the head of Nuckelavee, making the body flail about, before dropping, with the rest of itself, and then evaporating into a thick, black fog, that slowly went up into the sky.

Ren then dropped the dagger, and kneeled down from being out of breath, until Nora dove on him and wouldn't stop hugging him. "Okay, you guys can stop that now." Matt said, as he walked up to the pair, and sat down along with them. "Aww, but you do it with Ruby!" Nora argued. "That was once!" Matt said, but Nora glared at him, "Okay, twice!", Nora continued to stare, "Fine! Three times!". Ruby began to run over to where Jaune put Qrow, and Matt yelled over "How's he doing?", but before Ruby could respond, Jaune called over "Guys, I think I hear something!". While Ruby tried carrying over Qrow, Matt ran over, and helped Ruby keep Qrow upright. As Ruby looked up at the sky, she saw two airships flying over Kuroyuri, getting closer to their position. As members of the airships dropped off, Nora directed them towards Qrow, and told them he needed medical attention. Qrow was put on board with Jaune and Ruby, while Ren, Matt, and Nora were put on the other one.

"Qrow's gonna be fine, right?" Matt asked a member of the airship crew. "He should be." He replied, "You're lucky we saw the smoke, otherwise I'm not so sure your friend would've made it.". As Matt looked out of the open airship, he saw a giant city, full of houses and civilisation. The city seemed to be build on two mountains, and buildings all around it, with a palace like structure being at the very top, and a big waterfall lying between both mountains.

Once Matt took in the sight, he turned around and saw Ren and Nora both holding hands as they looked out of the opposite end. Matt smiled at the couple and turned around, only for his smile to fade and sigh, as memories flashed in his head of him and Velvet, and how great things used to be before the Fall of Beacon. Matt shook his head to get rid of his thoughts, and looked out towards the other airship, and saw Ruby holding onto Qrow with a smile on her face. As Matt continued to look out, he couldn't help but smile at the sight of Ruby, and happy she was to know that Qrow will survive.

Matt was fixated so much on the other airship, he didn't realise Ren and Nora standing next to him, and looked at where his gaze was fixed, "You two are so CUTE!" Nora yelled in Matt's ear, which startled him so much he would've fell out of the airship, but Ren caught him. "Wh-what are you talking about?" Matt asked nervously. "I saw the way you were looking at her." Nora said, as she began to hit Matt with her shoulder. "N-no!" Matt responded, "I'm just happy to know that Qrow's gonna be fine.", "Suuuuuure." Nora said skeptically, but Ren then asked "How come you're close with Qrow? You just seem to really like him, is it because of Ruby?". Matt sighed, and then looked at both Ren and Nora, "Thanks to Tyrian, I forgot everything. I forgot my past life, I forgot friends, and I forgot family. That means that I have no idea what a family is like. Don't get me wrong, I see both of you, Jaune, Ruby, Jason, Blake, Weiss,...hell, I see everyone that I went to Beacon with as family. But I'm never gonna have those memories of an actual family. I guess I see Qrow as some sort of father figure. When he helped me out after the two-on-two match of me and Jason against Emerald and Mercury, I just saw him that way.". Nora then went up with Ren and put their arms around him, "Well now you have a new family." Ren said, while Nora whispered in Matt's ear "And I'm sure Ruby wants to be a part of it." which caused Matt to let out a small laugh, as Mistral got closer and closer.

After making their way across Anima, and finally reaching Mistral, Matt found himself in a room, looking through his Scroll, and looking at pictures he had of all of his friends. "Everyone…" Matt said to himself, as he had a picture of everyone he cared about, Weiss, Blake, Jaune, Yang, Pyrrha, Ren, Nora, Coco, Velvet, Sun, Neptune, Yatsuhashi, Penny, Ruby, and Jason, in one picture. Matt then began to look through other photo's but these were of the same people, but they never knew the pictures were taken.

"Hey!" Matt heard behind him, as Ruby was lying on his bed, and looking over his shoulder at a picture of herself. "Ruby!" Matt yelled out in shock, "When did you get here?", "I just got back from seeing Uncle Qrow, but that's not important." Ruby replied, "What I want to know is why you have pictures of me on your Scroll! How many other photo's do you have of me?". Ruby then used her semblance to race over to Matt and grab his Scroll before he had a chance to react. "You've got some of everyone!" Ruby said. "Ruby, I can explain myself!", "Can you!?" Ruby yelled back. Matt sighed, "Yes, Lil Rose. I have a reason for having them pictures." Matt swiped his Scroll and showed Ruby pictures of everyone that didn't realise their photo was being took, and then went back to the picture of Ruby, "I have these pictures to remind myself of everyone. I know I could just ask people for pictures, but when they don't know I'm taking them, it's natural. I capture the moment when they act like themselves.".

"That's not a reason." Ruby said. "What?" Matt asked, "Of course it is!". "No," Ruby responded, "that's just you making up a reason.", "You could tell?", "Matt, we knew each other at Beacon, you stayed with me, Yang, and my dad for a few months, and survived out in Anima with me. I can tell when you're lying.". Matt sighed again, "Okay, Ruby." and then lead on the bed next to Ruby. "I have these pictures for exactly this purpose. We don't know what's gonna happen next. We don't know who's gonna be with us tomorrow. For all I know, I could die tomorrow, but I'll have so many memories that I can honestly say that I'd die happy. These pictures are so I always have memories of everyone I know. I've lost my memories once, and I refuse to lose them again. I've met so many great people. I don't think I could be any more lucky. When I first met you, Weiss took us all out for a meal and showed me how friends truly act. When I first got my semblance, Yang helped me through dealing with my anger, as well as you also helping me understand that my anger isn't always bad. Even Blake taught me that you don't have to talk to, or even see, people for them to still know that they care. These pictures are incase I ever come across Salem and her team again, and they get rid of my memory again. Or if I die, anyone that finds my body knows who I am, and what life I had. I can't say this enough, Ruby, but thank you for helping me live a great life that I can actually remember.".

Ruby then picked Matt's Scroll, and took a picture of them both lying on the bed. "Why'd you get that one?" Matt asked. "It's so you can remember yourself, and remember that we stick together, 'till the end.". Matt smiled and gave Ruby a smile, "You know, you are a really great person.". "I know." Ruby responded, "Mind if we just lay here for a while?" Ruby asked. "I don't have an issue with it." Matt responded, "Just don't let Nora see, she'd never shut up…", Ruby giggled "Sure." as she moved closer to Matt and curled up as they both fell asleep.


	46. Chapter 46 (J)

**Chapter 46 (Jason) - Left, but Never Forgotten**

After Jason mustered up electricity, he received a message through his scroll. The message was from Weiss, and told Jason the time he should arrive to the manor. "Nine o'clock, meet me at my room.", Jason became suspicious about the time but still agreed to it. Only 10 minutes were left until Jason was to leave the hotel, he packed up his weapon, Scroll, briefcase, and the note that Jess left with him. Bringing back the key to the room 666 to the receptionist, the lady said "You're one of the most luckiest people here, not many people enjoy staying in that room.", Jason giving a sarcastic laugh said, "I guess luck is on my side.". After taking his last step out of the hotel, he ran back to the Schnee manor and went into Weiss' room in an instant. When Jason entered Weiss' room, he couldn't find her but what he did found was "Whitley…?" he said. "Well, it's great to see you back here, alive and kicking." announced Whitley. "Where is she?" Jason demanded. "To whom must you be talking about?" Whitley proclaimed while he presented his hands, revealing Weiss' scroll, "Don't play games with me, Whitley. I'll ask again. Where. Is she?" he yelled as he grabbed Whitley's collar. "Always acting in conflict, this is why I will never be like you and my sisters.", "Was you the one that sent me that message." Jason continued to question Whitley. "So what if I was?" Whitley mentioned. "Why did you bring here then?" questioned Jason. "To see the look on your face when you thought that your so called 'friends' will leave with you.", "No…", in complete shock, Jason had dropped Whitley's collar and ran towards the hanger in hopes of the Bullhead is still there.

Upon reaching the hanger, Jason saw the Bullhead from afar but was unable to call it back nor catch up to it. Frustrated, Jason fell onto his knees and punched the ground in anger "God damnit. I was too slow...", shouted Jason as he continued to burst out in anger. He saw Klein approaching him. "Sir, are you alright?" he said while wearing a worried face. As Jason continued looking down in disappointment, Klein presented Jason with a note. "It's from 'Snowflake'." said Klein. As Jason lifted himself up, he picked up the note that Klein gave him. The note said, "I'm sorry that we left you Jason, but we were running out of time. Whitley noticed us boarding on the Bullhead. I knew that he would tell father something about this and it was our only shot to leaving Atlas. Don't worry, I brought Mia with me. I'll make sure that she stays safe and I'll train her so that she can at least defend herself. But if you stay in the hotel for one month, the Bullhead should return to the hanger and it will take you straight to Haven.". Jason thought to himself, "That's too long, I don't have time for that.". "Klein, I'm going to need a favour." he requested. "What will that be, Sir?" Klein questioned. "I'm going to need a map, food, sleeping bag, and water. Can you prepare that for me for tomorrow?" said Jason. "Sir please, don't tell me that you are going to…", Klein prayed to not hear the worst, "Sorry Klein, but I can't stay here. I'm going out there on my own." said Jason. "But it's dangerous out there, vicious creatures, bandits, it'll take you more than a month to get to Haven without a vehicle." Klein fretted of the thought of Jason making his way to Haven, "Which is why i'm going to use my semblance to get their." Jason responded. "But sir, it will be more safer to just wait...", "There's no time for waiting. I want to make sure that Mia is safe with my own eyes…". As Klein had then began to agree with Jason's request, "Meet me at the back garden, I'll have everything prepared for your travel." said Klein but had walked away with grief on him.

"Thanks Klein." said Jason, as he exited the manor, ran back to the hotel but within a brief moment, Jason had seen what looked like a red lightning streak passed by him. Surprised, Jason had instantly stopped to look around and find the red streak. Thinking it was his imagination, Jason shrugged it off and went back to the hotel hoping that everything will go as planned. As Jason made his way back to the hotel and book for another stay, "You're back quite quickly" said the receptionist. "I'm going to need a room for a night" stated Jason, "That's fine, we'll find you a room to stay for the night.". "Hope you will enjoy your stay" said the receptionist as he gave Jason the key to which Jason and made his way to the room 666 and instantly fell asleep on the bed upon entering the room.

The sun rose and gleamed on Jason's face, gradually waking him up. It was his last stay within Atlas, having to pack again all of his belongings and handing back the key. He used his semblance to make his way to the Schnee manor and went to the back garden. He then greeted Klein who was holding a backpack. "Hey Klein.", "I do wish that you reconsider on what you are doing, sir.", "I've made up my mind. I can't stop now." replied Jason. "Then I pray for your safety." added Klein while he gave Jason the backpack. Klein then left Jason, but Jason called out his name, "Hey. Klein, you can have this back." as he presented Klein the briefcase. "Don't worry I've got enough from it to travel by ship. And besides, it will take some weight off of me." said Jason. "If you insist." responded Klein. As Jason gave the briefcase to Klein, Jason made his way down south towards the port.

While bolting past cities and roads, Jason started to feel as if someone or something is following him. Looking back, he had yet again saw the same red streak that passed him the night prior. But it had disappeared within seconds after being spotted. Jason thought to himself that whoever was following him had a similar semblance to himself. He then ran towards the docks where he found the loading bays, cargo containers and a crane. Out of fear, Jason then shouted in the open area to try and confront the person that was following him, "Come on out! I know you were following me!". Jason continued to shout at the person that was following him, but as seconds went to minutes of waiting, no response came. Becoming more confused and weary of knowing that someone is following him, he made his way to the port.

As he got to the reception which was handled by a women, "Is there a ship that will take me to Mistral?" questioned Jason. "I'm sorry, the ship has just recently left." answered the receptionist. "You're kidding me..." Jason fretted, "If you are willing to wait for 2 weeks, it will take you…", "I don't have time for that!" Jason argued. The receptionist became startled and tried to find another solution, "W-well, there's currently a boat that will depart in 10 minutes that will take you to Vale. If you make it to Vale and travel East, you will be able take another ship to Mistral, but that would mean that you will need a vehicle to get their in time as it will depart in 4 days and the travel will take long, I don't thi-", "I'll take my chances." stated Jason as he was urging to meet Mia as quickly as possible. After getting the ticket and boarding the ship, Jason made his way to the front deck and patiently waited as the boat departed from the port. Jason feeling alive once again, started to embark on his own journey.


	47. Chapter 47 (M)

**Chapter 47 (Matt) - Somethings Aren't Meant to be**

"Well...ain't that a sight." Matt heard as he awoke from his bed. "Qrow?" Matt asked, "What're you doing in here?", "Well, I was gonna ask if you could go on a mission for me, but I see that you're a bit busy…". Matt looked at him confusingly, and then realised that Ruby was still sleeping in the same bed, inches away from him. "Q-Q-Qrow, t-this isn't what it looks like!" Matt exclaimed. "Be quiet." Qrow said, "You'll wake her up, and then it'll be awkward. Let's head to my room, we need to talk.". Matt quickly left the room, after writing a letter to Ruby telling her he just left with her uncle.

As Matt walked into Qrow's room, Matt tried to ease the tension, "So, umm, Qrow? What mission are you talking about?","Really?" Qrow asked, "I walked in on you, in bed, with my niece, and you want to act like nothing happened?". Qrow then began to walk to a chair, while holding his hand over his newly treated wound, and sat down resting his body, "Listen, before we talk about the mission, you clearly need to be talked to about...other things. Yang told me about you and some faunus girl, before the Fall of Beacon. Velvet, right?", "Yeah, but what does this have to do with me and a mission?", "Because you need a clear head. I know that things...didn't end well, and Ruby recently informed me that neither of you have seen each other for a while. All I can tell you is that sometimes...somethings aren't meant to be. I trust you enough around Ruby, but I gotta ask, are you really wanting to have a closer relationship with her?".

"Qrow," Matt began, "this really isn't the time.", "I know it's not," Qrow responded, "But I want both Ruby, and you, to be happy. I want you both to live your lives, that's why we have to stop Salem.". Matt clenched his hands and looked at them, and then back to Qrow, "I can't have a closer relationship with Ruby.", "What do you mean you "can't"?", "I mean I can't!" Matt yelled, "Your semblance isn't always a good one, and neither is mine. If I got in a relationship with Ruby, I'd be angry too often, and I might end up hurting her feelings, or worse. I don't know how she feels about me, but I know that it's not worth me being happy. Ruby doesn't deserve me. She's a happy, outgoing person. And I'm just a bunch of anger that can blow off some steam every so often. At my time in Beacon, I met a whole bunch of people, but Ruby was the brightest flower in the bunch. Me being happy for a short while isn't worth her being corrupted by my anger.".

"Alright, kid. I know how you feel." Qrow said, "Our semblances don't make normal life easy on us, but that doesn't mean that we don't deserve a life. Just think about that while you're on your mission. Speaking of which…". Qrow pulled out a piece of paper, with instructions on, and a map. "What's that?" Matt asked, which Qrow responded with "This is your mission. I know you haven't really done any normal missions, but now's a time to start. If I was able to, I'd be doing this myself, but because of my condition, this one's on you. Now, if I'm right, which I usually am, on one of the few nights I wasn't watching over you, a girl, more specifically a faunus, asked you about the White Fang, tried to kill you, and then ran off.", "Yea, that's right." Matt confirmed, "But what does that have to do with this?". Qrow laid the paper on a desk, and called Matt over, "I've heard people talking about a girl, with green and white hair, looking for the White Fang, and it turns out, some of the White Fang aren't too far away. Your mission is to find the White Fang, just outside Mistral, and take them down.".

"Why me?" Matt asked, "Why am I the one to take the group down out of all of us?", "You said it yourself, kid." Qrow responded, "Sometimes you need to blow off some steam, and this is a good opportunity to do that. So, you in, or out?". "Yea, I'm in. When do I leave?" Matt asked. "9 P.M., and if everything goes well, you should be back by dawn." Qrow responded, "They supposedly have meeting around midnight. Should make seeing them easier if they use any lights, and you'll have them all in one spot.". Matt looked to the door, and then at Qrow, "Alright, if it's not that far away, I'll take them down.". As Matt was walking out, Qrow yelled over "I know that the girl tried to kill you, but if she's there, you can't kill her. Understand?". Matt just nodded his head, and went back to his room, waiting for Ruby to wake so he could tell her about his mission.

"Good luck!" Ruby yelled, as Matt turned around to look at Ruby, and gave her a fake smile as he walked out of the gates of Mistral. On the inside, it was killing him to be away from someone that he's spent so much time with, but he also knew that with him being away for a while, Ruby won't have any of his negativity surrounding her. While Matt was walking for what felt like 3 miles, he couldn't stop thinking about everything he's been through. Being away from Ruby really seemed to cloud his mind more than he would've thought, which shocked him when he heard rustling nearby.

"Who's there!?" Matt yelled out, but no one answered. Matt cautiously stepped towards the bush, and looked behind it, only to be greeted by nothing. "I know where you are!" Matt yelled out, trying to threaten anyone nearby, when he suddenly heard a voice say "Then where am I, hmm?". "Who are you?" Matt yelled out again, but instead of an answer, Matt was knocked off his feet, but then grabbed by his arm as he fell, saving him from hitting the ground. As Matt looked up, he saw the same faunus that attacked him a few nights ago. "Looks like you could work on your form." The faunus girl teased, but Matt snapped back with "Well maybe you can work on your breathing!" as he charged forward, the girl grabbed his fist and held it in place. "Now that's no way to treat a lady!" The girl mocked, as she pushed him back.

"Stop playing!" Matt commanded, but the girl began to skip around in circles. "Oh please. You're in no position to tell me to do anything. But, I do have something you might want…", "And what's that?" Matt asked. "My ears." She responded, which Matt questioned, "Your ears?", "Yup! I guess that you're looking for the White Fang, and so am I, but I need help if I'm to deal with them.". Matt looked confused, "Help? You tried to kill me the other day just so you could meet up with them!". The girl stared back "No, I'm not meeting up with them. I want to destroy them. They've made life for faunus-kind very difficult, and I want payback. But you look different from the other night… What is it? Ah, you're hair! It's changed colour, how've you done that?", "My hair isn't important, but my mission is! How do I know you aren't tricking me?" Matt asked, but the girl was quick to respond, "If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead by now. I just need some power to take on the boss while I deal with the others.". Matt looked down at the piece of paper, and realised he had no idea where he was. "Do you know where the base is?" Matt asked, but the girl squealed in excitement, "Oh, yes I do! I can't wait to end them-" Matt cut her off, "We can't kill them, how about we just...leave them broken. Just break their spirits.", "Ugh, you're no fun! Fine...no killing.".

As the faunus girl and Matt walked for another mile, night slowly began to descend, and they both finally came across a camp with people wearing White Fang outfits and masks. "Is this the place?" Matt asked, but the girl responded sarcastically "No, this is obviously a birthday party, now come on!". The girl moved closer, but Matt grabbed her arm, "One second, I don't even know your name!" Matt exclaimed. "You're right!" The girl smiled, "You can call me Lyra!" she said as she pulled out her two hatchets from the slots on the back of her trousers, and slowly walked towards the camp, feeling sorry for whoever was the first one to stop her and her new partner.


	48. Chapter 48 (J)

**Chapter 48 (Jason) - The Past is the Future's Progression**

As Jason finally reached the North of Vale at the break of dawn, he was quite hesitant to set foot after the Fall of Beacon. When Jason finally set foot on the island, he was unable to figure out where to go first; either Beacon Academy, or go straight to the port. Nevertheless, Jason had the time to visit the two places and still be able to get to the ship in time. But the closest to Jason was Beacon Academy. Venturing away from the dock and into the city, Jason continued to travel further into the heart of Vale until he entered into Forever Forest and then Emerald Forest.

Beowolves started to appear out of the trees, Creeps clinging onto the branches, creatures that Jason had not seen in awhile. He continued to bolt through the forest to which any Grimm that was in his way either got sliced clean in half, or left in pieces. But the killing spree came to an end after Jason lost his way around the forest. He took a moment to pause and catch his breath, and when he fully regained his strength, he walked his way deeper into Emerald forest without using his semblance but as time past, night started to fall. He brought a torch with him, but as he lighted the area around him to see what was around him, he entered a unique place, a place that he never want to return to, a place that he wished he forgot. The place where Mia's home was…

As Jason plodded through the village, the only remains were the tents that was destroyed, grass growing, and bones scattered around the area. Jason feared that the same fate could have happened to Mia if he hadn't received his semblance in time to save her from the Death Stalkers. But as Jason mourned for the deaths of Mia's family, an unknown voice entered the village while a growling sound echoed, "Isn't this a sight to see?".

Jason became weary, and he looked around the village, only to see a pale women with a black diamond on her forehead, whose snake-like iris were crimson red with her eyes being jet black. Wearing black robe with red outlining that matches her eyes, her skin was covered in deep red and purple veins that ran up her arms and face while her white hair formed into a bun with six shoots from which each individual shoots has black ornaments on them. But as she presented herself to Jason, a Grimm was overhead her. As Jason continued to concentrate on what the Grimm was, it decided to show its eyes to Jason, which were beaming red and the size of boulders, and was also focussed on Jason while it started to growl louder.

"Who are you?" Jason asked. "It's great to see you alive, Jason…" the pale women replied. Jason continued to question the mysterious women, "How do you know who I am?", "Have you lost your memories too?" said the pale women. "Well, the least I can give you is my name before you die." she continued, "My name is Salem." said the pale women while giving a smirk. "You see, there's now complications you'll make in the future and so we have to shift our plans because of you!", "What do you mean?" said Jason while looking confused. "There's no point in telling you when you are going to die." Salem added. The Grimm overhead Salem had started to exit out of hiding and face Jason, but as it started to reveal itself to him, he was overwhelmed of the size of the Grimm, it was almost the same size as the dragon Grimm that Jason saw during the Fall of Beacon.

As it started to growl, it toppled over trees and passed Salem until it met Jason. It wore a Grimm mask that had a glowing red outline, fur covered its entire body and was emitting black mist. While standing on all fours, it took on appearance of a wolf. On the back of the Grimm, it had bone spikes popping out while the elbows of the Grimm had small blades, and the paws of the Grimm were sharp needles. Salem began to speak to Jason, "Meet my pet, Fenrir. You may be able to run, but you can't hide from Fenrir.". As the colossal Grimm pounced towards Jason, he dodged the Grimm's attack but made the ground shake, "I'll leave you to him." said Salem while she disappeared into a red void. Jason started to attack from the side of Fenrir but as Jason went for a strike, he was instantly greeted by the Fenrir's claw which made Jason move back. ' _So not only is it big, but it is also fast…'_ Jason thought to himself. He decided to test if Salem was telling the truth and ran down South East of Vale, as fast as he could and he managed to find himself at a mountain with a sign calling the area Mountain Glenn. While trying to find a place to stay to regain his strength, he looked up to see a skyscraper and took the opportunity to run all the way to top of it to get a bird's eye view of the area.

Upon finding a suitable place to get a bird's eye view of the area, he found a wall that was broken to which he made it his place to camp for the night. Leaning on one of the walls, Jason thought that Salem was bluffing about Fenrir being able to follow him wherever he goes. Looking out of the broken wall from the skyscraper, he was unable to find Fenrir at all and so he used the free time to set up camp, thinking that he was safe.

Without Jason knowing, Fenrir entered Mountain Glenn with a pack of Beowolves following it. As Jason faced his back on the broken wall to set up camp, Fenrir took the opportunity to attack, however, with its size, it was way too big to enter the skyscraper. Instead of waiting for Jason to leave, Fenrir didn't have the patience to wait and so it used all of its might to headbutt the skyscraper from different angles. Jason thought the ground beneath him started to shake, but as he looked out of the wall, he saw Fenrir howling towards him while continuously headbutting the skyscraper in hopes of breaking the building down. As the skyscraper started to take a toll, it began to crumble with every hit made by Fenrir until the building started to collapse.

When the skyscraper began to fall sideways, it brought Jason down with him. While it shook the building, it staggered Jason, preventing him from escaping the skyscraper. Trying to find a way out of the skyscraper during mid fall, Jason finally regained his balance and used the walls and platforms around him to jump from platform to platform, and hopefully land safely. However, Jason lost his balance again and was unable to make it out in time. But just before Jason could brace for impact, he saw, yet again, the same red lightning streak that followed him since Atlas. Just a few feet away from clashing against the floor, the red lightning streak made an attempt to leap towards Jason and managed to catch him by the stomach and carry him by the shoulders. Upon landing, Jason was dragged away from Mountain Glenn and went back into the Emerald Forest, still be carried by the red streak. However, as Jason was being carried away, he saw Fenrir making his charge towards the two though it could not catch up to them but it will follow them.

Not knowing who the person was that saved Jason, or why they saved him became unknown to him. But as the two went further down the forest, the person that saved Jason stopped and threw him towards a tree in the middle of the night. While Jason was in a moment of pain, he managed to stand on his own and questioned the unknown person "Just who are you?". But no response escaped their mouth. The person finally stood still, facing towards Jason, and what he could see of the unknown person was that they wore a Grimm mask that had a red glowing outline, while wearing a black tattered trench coat. Upon further inspection, Jason saw weapons on their back, weapons that looked similar to his own but somewhat different. As Jason got closer towards him, face to face, he jumped back a few metres away from him in shock. "How is that even possible..." he blurted out. He sooner then realised that the person behind the mask was... himself.


	49. Chapter 49 (M)

**Chapter 49 (Matt) - Home is Where the Heart Is**

"Lyra!" Matt tried to call, but she ignored him, and walked closer to the camp. As she got in the center, the lower half of her hatchets began to flip downwards, creating a handle, while the upper half popped up, revealing a green laser-sight just above two submachine guns that were hiding in the center of the weapons. "Come out, come out wherever you are!" Lyra yelled, as she began to fire into the air. As members of the White Fang began to get out of their base, Matt ran over to Lyra's aid, "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Matt asked, We needed the element of surprise!". Lyra snapped back "You do realise that all of these people are faunus! They're always the only one with the element of surprise, especially at night!".

While Matt and Lyra were arguing, members of the White Fang began to surround them both. "This...is a little more than I expected…" Matt said nervously. "Ohh, give me a break." Lyra sighed, "We can take them!", "Lyra...there are only two of us!". "Is there?" Lyra asked with huge grin, as she looked up towards the night sky, and howled. Once she stopped howling, five more versions of her began to fade out of her. "What the-" Matt began to ask, but was cut off, "It's my semblance." Lyra explained, "I can create multiple versions of myself, and all of them have the same goal as me, and right now, that's taking down the White Fang!". Lyra charged forward, and all of her other versions dashed in different directions, taking on any White Fang members nearby. "What did you need me for if you could do this!?" Matt yelled, "The boss!" Lyra replied back, as a wall of the camp broke down, revealing the same pig faunus that Matt fought during the Fall of Beacon. "Speaking of which," Lyra said, "he's here! Now deal with him!".

"You again!" The giant faunus yelled, "This time I'll make sure to kill ya!", "You can try!" Matt yelled back, as they both went started trading blows. Matt tried hitting the faunus in the face, but unlike last time, the faunus shrugged the attacks off, and grabbed Matt by the throat as he threw him to the ground, used his chain to grab him, and slam him into a nearby tree. "Damn, that hurt!" Matt yelled as he stood back up. The faunus began to fire his shotgun, but Matt activated his shields, and began to rush forward, blocking any incoming shots. Once Matt was close enough, Matt shot a fire dust crystal, creating a bright light, blinding the faunus. Matt took this opportunity to use his shields to knock the faunus over, using his shields as a ram, and then blasting himself into the air. As Matt launched upwards, he saw multiple versions of Lyra jumping off each other to reach Matt's height. As the last one got above Matt, she grabbed his arm, and spun him back towards the ground, giving him extra momentum, and hitting the fanus with such a huge force that everything nearby was launched backwards, draining any remaining aura of any White Fang members nearby.

"That was so cool!" Lyra yelled as she landed on the ground next to Matt, and all the other versions of herself jumped back into her. "Yeah, but that seriously hurt me! You really know how to throw! He thought that being a pig faunus would make him unstoppable, but, I guess, working with you has really shown the White Fang what true power is." Matt exclaimed. After Matt and Lyra checked the inside of the base, they walked outside to see a crater in the ground, and the pig faunus missing. "Again!" Matt yelled out. "What do you mean "again"?" Lyra asked, and Matt explained that the exact same thing happened with the pig faunus during the Fall of Beacon. "Well I guess that you aren't that great now, are you?" Lyra mocked. "Look," Matt began, "thank you for helping me with this. I actually don't know if I could've done it by myself. I guess I'll see you around…".

Matt began to walk away, but Lyra began to follow. "What do you want?" Matt asked, but Lyra said nothing and kept on following. As Matt continued walking, he stopped, and turned around to confront Lyra, "Why are you following me? There's nothing I can do for you, so there's no need. Just go home!" Matt yelled, but Lyra muttered out "I have no home…", "What?" Matt asked. "I have no home." Lyra explained, "My search for the White Fang lead me to stay away from my family, and in that time, they were killed. All because I stayed away from home. Humans burnt down my house, with my mother and father still inside, and I could have stopped it...only if I could stop the White Fang, and the hatred they bring.".

Lyra dropped to her knees, and began to cry, more than Matt had ever seen from anyone. As Matt walked closer, he picked her up, and walked over to a tree, and sat down, with her lying the back of her head on his lap. "What happened wasn't your fault." Matt said calmly, but Lyra yelled back as she got back up, "It is! If I was there, I could have saved them.", "You don't know that. I know you loved your home, otherwise you wouldn't be as emotional. I wanna tell you a little story. I have no memory, none at all, of anything before I joined Beacon. All I know is that I angered powerful people, and they made me pay. But within the first week, I made great friends, and it was somewhere I could truly call home. But now look at it. Surrounded by Grimm and a giant dragon on top of the tower. The girl that saved me the night we met, she's family to me, and nothing is more important than family. I know losing everything you have is tough, believe me, I do, but trying to kill people doesn't work. But what does work, are close friends and family. And I'm pretty sure I can call you a friend for letting me have a good punch on that pig faunus!".

Matt gave Lyra a smile, and she slowly eased her head back onto Matt. "You know," Lyra said after a few minutes of staying quiet, "I stayed a lot of nights alone in the night's sky, but I'm terrified of the dark!", "So an almighty wolf faunus is afraid of the dark?" Matt mocked. "S-Shut up. Just do something to make me calm!" Lyra ordered. "Fine…" Matt said, as he took off his jacket and put it on her to keep her warm. "You know any lullabies?" Lyra asked, but Matt responded with, "None at all. They're not my thing.". Lyra glared up at Matt, "Well you better figure one out, because I'm not sleeping till you sing one!", "Alright, alright. Give me a minute to think..,". A few minutes went past, and Matt finally said, "Alright, I think I've got one, ready?", "Yup!" Lyra responded excitedly as she got herself in a comfortable position.

"Don't you worry about the dark,

I will light up the night with the love of my heart.

I will burn like the sun,

I will keep you safe and warm.

Like this smell of a rose on a summer's day,

I will be there to take all your fears away.

With a touch of my hand,

I will turn your life to gold."

As Matt finished, he looked down to see that Lyra was already asleep. ' _Great…'_ , Matt thought to himself, ' _I can't even get up and sleep somewhere different without waking her up. Ugh, fine...as long as she's asleep...'._ Matt closed his eyes, and gradually fell asleep knowing that he can finally return back to Qrow and tell him the mission was a success.


	50. Chapter 50 (J)

**Chapter 50 (Jason) - To Fight for the Future**

When the figure finally took off his mask to show himself towards Jason, his piercing eyes was focussed on him. "That's right, I'm you from the future." said the mysterious teenager. "From...the future?" Jason asked slowly. "I was going to eventually pop out in the right time but plan's changed. Salem knows that I'm here which is why she sent Fenrir after you, and if you go..." while pointing towards Jason, "I go too." after pointing towards himself. "I...don't understand. How...why do I go back into the past?" said Jason, "To stop something bad from happening!" shouted future Jason, leaving Jason in shock. "I kept my eye on you after you got kicked out of the Schnee manor." he said. "But when is it going to happen." present Jason asked, "It's not a matter of when, it's a matter of how." replied future Jason. "I can't tell you anything from the future, but I can tell you that a storm will start to brew in the near future, and you will have to make a choice.", "What choice?" questioned Jason. "Quiet, its coming.".

As Fenrir popped out of the trees, he pounced in between the two, forcing them to jump back in opposite directions, separating them. "We going to have to deal with Fenrir if we want to make any progress at all." said future Jason, "We can't beat him as we are, follow me.". As Jason followed his future self, they managed to gain good distance between them and Fenrir. "Give me your weapon." future Jason demanded. "Okay...but why?" present Jason said. "You're going to get a little upgrade so we can take that Grimm down." he replied while Jason gave his weapons to his future self. When Jason looked around, he heard Fenrir with other Beowolves howling, "It's getting closer." he whined. "I'm almost ready, just give me a minute." responded future Jason. "Annnnnd i'm done." said future Jason as Fenrir brushed the trees away, making his entrance towards the two.

"Here! Take it!" yelled future Jason as he threw Jason's weapons at him. Upon grabbing his weapon, Jason didn't notice any changes. "See that switch above your thumb!" shouted future Jason while present Jason spotted the switches on both swords. He flipped the switches to only find his weapons change form. As the weapon started to change, the swords had began extending until the the top part of the sword was lying on the floor. Future Jason began to speak,"It's a sword whip. Now you should be able to attack from range while still being able to use it as a quick, powerful melee.". "This is a first... I never had any training with whips." exclaimed Jason, "Well get use to it." replied future Jason. "Ugh! Just watch me alright." future Jason commanded as he ran towards Fenrir with his swords. Fenrir made a swipe towards him, however future Jason jumped over Fenrir's swipe and used the opportunity to attack. While airborne, he shot and extended his sword which impaled Fenrir's front left leg. Once connected, he pulled himself towards Fenrir and switched back into swords, making consecutive slashes at lightning speed, being able to chop off one of Fenrir's legs. In pure agony, Fenrir roared for help which got the attention of multiple Beowolves from every angle of the forest. Future Jason ran back towards his past self and began to talk to him. "This is perfect. You can start training on your new upgrades on those chumps.". Future Jason then ran towards Fenrir in hopes of ending it.

As Beowolves started to surround present Jason, he converted his weapons into sword whip and began to spin with the sword whip which was able to slice multiple Beowolves at the same time. More Beowolves started to appear out of the forest, while one of the Beowolves attacked from above. Jason changed back into swords but realised it was not in range for any attack, instead of waiting, he aimed his sword towards the Beowolf and within a fraction of a second, he thrusted his sword and changed it into sword whips and impaled the Beowolf. Before the Grimm could react, Jason pulled the Beowolf towards him and used his other sword to slice its head off. "I think I've got the hang of it." exclaimed Jason, however, just as he faced his way towards future Jason, future Jason was launched by Fenrir which broke and shattered a tree with his body. When future Jason managed to nod his head sideways to shake off the dizziness, "I'm gonna need your help with this one here." requested future Jason. "What do you want me to do?" Jason questioned, "Help me kill it, obviously!" he replied, "We're going to need to attack it at the same time.". As the two got into a sprint starting position, "On your mark." said future Jason, "Get set." said present Jason, the two shouted in sync "GO!".

As the duo ran at the same speed, they crossed paths multiple times with red and blue lighting streaks in hopes of confusing Fenrir. After Fenrir couldn't decide who to attack first, future Jason ran to the side of Fenrir. As Fenrir turned to face future Jason, present Jason took the opportunity to latch onto Fenrir's face. While he was on Fenrir's face, present Jason attached his weapons to create a bow to which he shot multiple electrical arrows into Fenrir's left eye, blinding him. Becoming staggered, future Jason changed one of his weapons into sword whips and thrusted the sword whip into Fenrir's other eye. Once the sword whip had pierced through Fenrir's right eye, future Jason pulled himself towards it and clamped onto Fenrir's face and impaled Fenrir's right eye completely with his other sword. Forcing Fenrir to be blind, it furiously shook its head which made the two fall off Fenrir. As the duo instantly got back up to prepare for Fenrir's attack, they both saw that Fenrir was struggling, and started to charge into trees. When the two lowered their guard, Jason questioned his future self, "Should we end it?", future Jason replying with a laugh, "Haha, J-Just give it a minute.".

After minutes of seeing a helpless Fenrir running from tree to tree, the two decided to end it. When Fenrir stood still, he started to use his nose to sniff out the duo, and after locating the two with his nose, he made a last ditch effort to kill them. "Use your bow again." said future Jason, as present Jason crouched with one knee on the floor, "Aim it directly at Fenrir.". "Now, charge up an electrical arrow!" future Jason yelled as he placed his palm on Jason's back while standing. "On my signal, get ready to shoot.". As future Jason placed his palm on Jason, he sent a red electrical surge through his arm towards Jason's back, which when Jason was charging the blue lightning arrow, it began to fuse with future Jason's electricity. "It's getting closer!" Jason fretted at Fenrir's approach, "Not yet..." said future Jason. After seconds of waiting, Fenrir managed to be a few metres away from the duo and made a pounce towards the them. "Now!" shouted future Jason. Jason released the electrical arrow which created a violet coloured electrical beam that shot right through Fenrir's mask. Upon collision, Fenrir's body started to disintegrate, and its mask began shattering until it was completely destroyed.


	51. Chapter 51 (M)

**Chapter 51 (Matt) - Corrupting the Corrupted**

As Matt slowly woke up, he shook Lyra, waking her up and preparing them both to make their way into Mistral. "Look," Matt began, "when we get into Mistral, you're gonna have to meet with someone I know. He's called Qrow, and he's a friend of mine. I'll still be there, but he'll need to speak to you about everything that happened last night, and the night you tried to kill me.". "I understand," Lyra began, "but what do I say if he-" Lyra's wolf ears perked up, and she put her hand over Matt's mouth. Matt gave a confused look, until Lyra dragged them both to a nearby tree, and pointed towards a huge rock. As Matt looked over, he saw a pile of what seemed to be black sludge with white armour that seemed to belong to a Grimm, on top of the rock.

"Is tha-" Matt tried to say, but Lyra kept her hand over his mouth. The black sludge dropped off the rock, and began to move slowly towards Matt and Lyra. "It's seen us!" Matt yelled, and as Matt screamed, the sludge shot forward, heading directly towards Matt and Lyra. Matt immediately threw Lyra away, but wasn't fast enough to get away himself. The black sludge grabbed onto Matt's leg, and slowly began to consume his body. "Matt!" Lyra yelled over, and she began to run over, but Matt yelled back "Stop! Don't come closer!" as he began to grab at the sludge Grimm, only for his hands to get covered in it as well, "This...thing...it's not coming off! You need to get away." As Matt began to yell out in pain, he began to feel a connection to the monster's hatred that was leeching onto him, and Lyra stared at Matt's hair which began to change into it's second stage. When Matt's neck got consumed by the sludge, the last words he yelled out was "Tell Ruby I-" and was then cut off as a piece of white armour, in the shape of a mask, went over his face.

Darkness was all Matt could see. Matt didn't know where he was, and couldn't even see his hands in front of him. "Hello?" Matt called out, only for a bright light to appear to the right of him. As Matt turned his head towards the light, he looked into it and realised it was what the black sludge was seeing. It was attacking Lyra, swinging back and forth, using Matt's gauntlets to attack her.

"Stop!" Matt yelled out, when suddenly he heard a female voice from behind him, "There you are.". Matt turned around, and saw a woman with extremely pale skin that was covered in red and purple veins, white hair that was in a bun with six offshoots that held ornaments, red irises and black scleras, and a black diamond-shaped marking in the center of her forehead. She wore a long, black robe that had red designs, and a ring that resembled an insect on her right index finger. "Who are you?" Matt asked as he began to walk towards her. "You know who I am," The woman responded, "Or, at least, you did.", "How do I know you?", "I thought Tyrian went over this with you…".

Matt stopped in his tracks. "Tyrian?" Matt began, "How do you know...wait! You! You're-", "Salem." The woman interrupted, "So I see that you've been informed of who I am again. This time, I'll make sure to end you. Which reminds me, how do you like this new Grimm? It's a one-of-a-kind. It takes over the host, drains their aura, and copies them, like how to use their weapons.". Matt looked out into the light, and saw Lyra struggling against the Grimm version of Matt. "I think it should be called...Nachahmier.".

"Why do you want me dead!?" Matt yelled out. "Let me ask a question first. Do you believe in destiny?" Salem asked. "No. I believe in fate." Matt responded. "That's...an interesting answer." Salem responded, "And to answer your question, we couldn't get to the silver-eyed girl, and she seems to be close to you, so we can make her really hurt by killing you first.", "So you're just going to attack an innocent girl because she has silver-eyes? That's not her fault, and she deserves none of this! What about me? I have grey eyes, isn't that close enough?". Salem scoffed, "They have to be silver. Your eyes aren't any concern to me. They have no power behind them!", "Then why do all of this to me? To Ruby? You're nothing but evil!", "Then what are you?" Salem said, "If what Tyrian said was right, your semblance is meant to be pretty bad. It's based of your own hatred. Doesn't that Ruby girl hate it? To see someone so close to her let their rage consume them?". Matt glared back at her, with disgust on his face, "You're wrong. Ruby understands why I use my semblance. I'll let you know, I never named my semblance because I was scared of it, and I still am! But I know that I can use it to help the people I love. Ruby taught me that it's not just hatred, but it's also my belief, for doing what's right! I have people that care about me, even if I choose to use my semblance, or not. And I care about them people just as much! Unlike you, I care about what happens to everyone! That includes humans, and faunus. You're just pure evil, a shadow, that only wishes to turn all of our lives to crap! Well guess what, you're gonna be stopped! And I'll make sure to see your end! You are nothing more than a stupid, irritating, piece of shi-" Matt's vision began to go blurry as the darkness around him flashed past, and he finally came back, looking at Lyra.

"What...happened…" Matt said, as the Grimm that consumed him began to slither away, but then felt a sharp pain in his chest. As he looked down, he saw a sharp blade coming out of his chest, and as he turned around, he saw Ruby with a horrified expression on her face, using Crescent Rose as a war scythe, that impaled him. "Ru...by?" Matt said as he fell forward, and his body landed on the ground, forcing Crescent Rose out of his body, and blood spurting out of his chest. Then, everything went dark.


	52. Chapter 52 (J)

**Chapter 52 (Jason) - The Future Pasts Present**

"Is it over?" Jason questioned. "For now. Salem will know that we killed her pet, and she'll come back until either you or I are dead." answered future Jason, "We should get moving anyways.". Out of curiosity future Jason had a question for Jason, "So, are you still on your way to Beacon?.", "Yea. I want to see what's left of it.", "I guess there's no point of me hiding from you. I'll travel with you." replied future Jason. The two made their way out of the forest without using their semblance, but Jason had a question for future Jason, "So the choice that I will make, who will it affect? Me?", "I can't tell you." responded future Jason. "Why do you have red lightning streak?", "I can't tell you." he responded the same. "So…how's Mia been doing in the future.", "Please don't mention that name!" shouted future Jason. Being shocked, Jason continued to question future Jason, "What happened to her?", "I can't tell you." replied future Jason. "Why can't you tell me?", "Because…", "Because what?". In sudden out burst, future Jason had yelled at Jason, "Because you can't handle it if I told you the truth!", small tears had started to form in future Jason's eyes. "But I can!" he shouted back, "If you really want to know the truth, then here it is. Mia died!". Jason began to stutter at the fact the Mia had died in the future "W-w-what do you mean?". "I've said enough. We should get moving." he requested while Jason was filled with more questions in his head but was afraid to ask.

Upon exiting the forest, they entered the city of Vale. Looking around the area, it reminded the two of Mountain Glenn, pure destruction. "Why is it always that the Grimm destroy what we create…?" said Jason in frustration. "That's a story to tell, but not now, we came here for a reason, right?" said future Jason. "Not really, I thought that I had the time to visit my home.", "This isn't your home anymore.".

As the two ventured around the city of Vale, they saw familiar stores, coming across one of the stores that Jason had seen, 'From Dust Till Dawn', continuing to scatter around the area, Jason had found another store, 'Tuckson's Book Trade'. "Hey, would you look this!" shouted future Jason as he spotted something that he wants to share with Jason, "This bring back memories." stated Jason as he looked at a specific restaurant sign, "Appetite's Dust". Jason began to reminisce about the past and share it with future Jason, "Remember that time in that restaurant when Ruby was super excited when she asked us about what weapons we would have.", "I'm so glad that we kept that a secret, the face that she made when we showed it to her. As well as using it properly for the first time against that mech Torchwick was in. That...was badass..." said future Jason, leaving the two in slight laughter. "Remember that time in that restaurant when Yang told us if we were in a relationship." announced future Jason, "What about it?" questioned Jason. "Oh. Nothing.", "What does that mean?" said Jason, "It means that a special someone will be happy." replied future Jason.

When the duo made their way to Beacon Academy, future Jason was quite hesitant on entering, "I've got a bad feeling about this.", "What so bad around here." claimed Jason. As Jason faced future Jason, a black tendril slithered towards Jason without him knowing, "Watch out!". Before the tendril could make contact with Jason, future Jason threw Jason away, taking his place and become grappled by the tendril. A familiar voice approached the duo, "Always a troublemaker till the end.", as future Jason began to speak, he knew within an instant of the familiar voice, "Salem…". "Leave him alone!" yelled Jason as he made a sudden charge against Salem but was instantly stopped by a Grimm Griffon.

However, as one Griffon came to aid Salem, multiple Grimm around Beacon Academy started to surround Jason, Grimm ranging from Ursa, Beowolves, giant Nevermores, Death Stalkers, Boarbatusk, Creeps, King Taijitu and a new Grimm that Jason had not seen before but knew what it was, Beringel. The Beringel is covered in black skin but was also coated with bone-like plate in certain parts of its body while it had resembled to be a Gorilla. Unable to find an opening to save future Jason, a black puddle was being formed underneath future Jason, "I have plans for you..." Salem said. When the black puddle was created, the tendrils that latched onto future Jason started to drag him down into the puddle. Struggling, future Jason got consumed by the puddle entirely while Salem left Jason, giving a smirk.

"Where do you think you're going!", Jason continued to shout at Salem, "I haven't finished with you yet!". As Jason made his charge against Salem, the Griffon stood in his way and made Jason pause his attack to which a Major Ursa took the opportunity to sneak behind Jason and bear hug him, leaving him vulnerable. Unable to escape, a Beringel that was triple the size of Jason, walked slowly towards him until it was a few centimetres away from him. When face to face, Jason spat at the Beringel. Enraged, the Beringel moved back a few metres away from Jason, swung its right arm towards him and planted its fist onto his face. As the rest of the Grimm watched mercilessly as Jason became a punching bag for the Beringel, Jason's aura started to flicker. When the moment the Beringel landed a punch on Jason, Jason released a shockwave along with his aura, pushing the Major Ursa and Beringel away. Breathing relentlessly, Jason was on all fours but quickly stood up, using one of his swords to support himself.

As Jason's vision became more and more blurry, a black King Taijitu circled around him as an attempt to restrict Jason's movement, it shot its head towards him. Being exhausted, Jason could not move and watched as he saw his fate approaching him. At least that's what he thought. Before the King Taijitu could reach Jason, it was frozen in place but its eyes made various twitches. Though Jason was saved, he could not see who saved him but heard a voice and instantly knew who it was, Professor Goodwitch. "What are you doing here!" she shouted. Another voice could be heard from afar that Jason also recognise, Professor Port, "This will be a story to tell." he exclaimed. "By my calculations, we have a pretty high chance of saving Jason.", as Jason finally caught his breath, "Hey Doctor Oobleck.", "That's _Professor_ Oobleck to you." he replied. As Professor Goodwitch flung the King Taijitu away, Professor Port and Professor Oobleck slayed the Grimm that surrounded Jason. With the battle ending in a victory, Professor Goodwitch had many questions for Jason, but he suddenly collapsed onto the floor. Before Jason could lose consciousness, he heard the trio worrying about his conditions. "We should bring him somewhere safe." said Professor Oobleck, "I know a place somewhere in Patch." added Professor Port. "You two should bring him there straight away. I'll continue to fix our home." stated Professor Goodwitch.


	53. Chapter 53 (M)

**Chapter 53 (Matt) - Death is a Great Motivator**

Matt faded in and out of consciousness, and he could hear voices, but his confusion caused to not know who the voices belonged to. "Matt!".

"Ruby, what happened!",

"Who are you?"

"Jaune, we need to get him back to Mistral, now!"

"That wolf faunus was fighting a Grimm, and all I tried to do...was help…"

"C'mon, kiddo. While I'm here, he's not likely to get any better, and you need to get some fresh air.", "We'll watch over him."

Matt jolted awake, only to find himself in a medical room that was glowing a deep red. It was almost like the world itself was dead. Matt searched his body to see his scar, but only saw bandages covering his chest. Matt tried to sit up, but pain shot through his body, leaving him lying down. Suddenly, a woman jumped down from the roof, and started to approach Matt. The woman was wearing a shallow black dress, five necklaces of bead, a red-girdle belt, and fingerless gloves. She also had black leggings that had a red splatter pattern, and black leather boots. As the woman got closer, Matt noticed she looked very similar to Yang, but the only difference the woman's red hair. Even the woman's red eyes looked the same as when Yang gets angry. The woman had a sheathed longsword by her side, which she held close to her.

"Y-Ya-Yang?" Matt struggled to say, but the woman stopped in her tracks at him saying this. "Shut up." She said as she started walking towards him again. "Consider this a favour, and since I'm doing this for you, then you can repay me by telling no one about this!". The woman then placed her hand over Matt's wound, and whispered "For it is in passing that we stay immortal. Through this we are a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, but you shall protect thee.". Matt felt pain leave his body, and his strength coming back again. Slowly, but surely. The woman then turned around, and slashed at the air with her sword, creating some sort of red portal. "Not a word." She said, as she walked into the portal, and Matt went unconscious again.

Matt slowly began to wake again, but in a room similar to his room that he got when he first arrived at Mistral, but this time he woke up to Lyra sleeping on his arm, and Nora, Ren, and Jaune talking in the doorway. Before Matt made it aware to everyone that he was awake, he checked his wound to see his chest only had a scar instead of an open wound. Matt sighed, which caught the attention of Lyra as her ears perked up, and woke up quickly. Nora looked over and saw Matt awake, and rushed over to his side."You're okay!" Lyra yelled, but Matt responded with "Guys, what happened?", "We...don't really know." Ren replied, "If what Lyra told us is true, then a Grimm was somehow able to take over you, and you was attacking her. Ruby saw that and tried to help her, but she didn't know it was you…", "Why was Ruby there to begin with?", "Because you were late." Jaune spoke up, "You were meant to be back by the morning, but you took even longer, and Ruby got worried. We all worried.".

"How long have I been out?" Matt asked, and Lyra replied "Two days… We were told you might not make it…". Matt put his head down "I'm not surprised. That was a heavy blow I took. The damn Grimm drained my aura away.". "Speaking of which," Ren began, "tests were being done on you while you were out. At one moment, you had no aura at all, and then you had a huge spike. Any idea of what that was?". Matt thought back to the woman that looked like Yang, but knew he shouldn't say anything. "I don't know. Maybe I just had a spike of hope." he joked. "So what Grimm was that?" Nora asked, and Matt responded with "It's a one-of-a-kind Grimm. When it took over me, I spoke to Salem. She said that she wanted me dead so she could hurt Ruby. Speaking of which, where is she?". "She's out in the forest." Lyra replied, "With that Qrow person. He smells of a lot of alcohol…". Matt began to get out of his bed, and began to equip Anngotic. "Where the hell do you think you're going!?" Jaune yelled, "You can't leave after nearly dying.", "He's right," Ren added, "You're in no condition to fight.". Matt continued getting ready, but then saw Crescent Rose next to his bed. "Ruby left that here?" Matt said, and then he realised something, "Guys, the Grimm that took over me didn't die. It got off me before just as Ruby stabbed me, and that thing wants to hurt me and Ruby as much as possible. It'll be very easy for it to do that if she doesn't have a weapon, and Qrow still needs help recovering.". Matt picked up Crescent Rose and began to walk to the door, "I'm coming with you." Lyra said, and Matt just sighed. "Fine, you can use that wolf nose of yours to track them, now come on!" Matt said as he left the room with Lyra, Jaune, Nora, and Ren.

"Any idea where they are?" Matt asked Lyra, but she didn't respond, "Lyra?" Matt said, getting her attention. "Sorry, what?" She asked, "It's a new scent it might take a while…". Matt looked back at the rest of the group, and saw that they kept on making distance between Matt and Lyra. "I need to ask you," Lyra began, "why'd you save me? A few nights before I tried to kill you, but then you pushed me out of the way from a Grimm attack. Why?". Matt gave a smile back and responded, "Well, to a certain few, I'm seen as good, and to other I'm bad. A few months ago I even referred to myself as dirty, but now I know what I am, who I am. I've got a lot to learn, and I might not have that much time, but I can always try. I saved you because I'm a hero, and self-sacrifice is part of the job.".

Matt continued to walk, until he heard an explosion in the distance. "Go back for help!" Matt told team JNR, "I'll check it out, and Lyra will have my back. I trust her. Now go!". As Matt and Lyra got closer, they saw what seemed to be a dark figure speaking to someone. "That's the smell!" Lyra confirmed as Matt got a closer look, seeing that the other person was Qrow. Matt began to get closer to the dark figure, when it suddenly turned around, and went to grab him, but Lyra got in the way, and deflected the attack. "Just in time, kiddos." Qrow said as he held his gut, "Glad to see you're okay, Matt. But can you explain why that Grimm looks just like you!?". Matt looked over to the Grimm, and realised that it had to be the same one that took over him. "That Grimm," Matt heard, as Ruby appeared behind a tree, "is a true monster. It made me hurt him.". Matt looked at Ruby, and saw that she was hurt.

"What happened?" Matt said as he ran over to her. "I'm what happened.", Matt heard, as he looked back over towards the Grimm. "You can...talk?" Matt asked, and the Grimm replied "I'm all about copying, remember? I copied your moves, and now I copy your language. I'm practically you, and I hurt the girl, which I guess means that you hurt her as well.". "He'd never hurt me!" Ruby yelled out, "You're just a fake!". Matt gave Ruby Crescent Rose, but her knew that she couldn't fight. Lyra, get with Ruby. I'm gonna need some room.". Matt activated Anngotic, but continued speaking to the Grimm. "I'm gonna beat you senseless!" Matt yelled out, but the Grimm responded "And how are you gonna do that? You've already been stabbed, I bet you can't fight for a minute. We both fight with anger, and I'm practically anger itself. So, no matter what, you lose!".

"Qrow!" Matt called out, "I need to fight fire with fire.", "What do you mean?" Qrow asked. "If I'm right," Matt said, "Grimm don't have souls, even this one. That means it doesn't have an aura, which also means it doesn't have my semblance. It may have anger, but so do I. I need you to make me angry, and I know that you know how to do that!". "You're crazy, kid, I like it.". Qrow slowly got up, and walked over to Ruby. "Matt, if you don't fight, she dies! You're her shield, her aura! Now act like it!" Matt's hair began to glow just at the thought of Ruby dying. "ARGH!" Matt howled out in pain from going straight into stage three of his semblance. "What is he doing?" Lyra asked, but Ruby sat back, "Just watch…" she said. "So you think you're angry? Well you've seen nothing yet!" Matt yelled out, "This is gonna be fun!". "I am anger itself! What makes you think you can win?" The Grimm responded, but Matt replied "Because I'm not motivated by anger. I'm motivated by helping people, but I use anger to do it. Now, if you're the same as me, I bet you're wanting to fight just as much." The Grimm nodded it's head and gave a mischievous grin, "Like you wouldn't believe.". "Good!" Matt responded, "Because I wanna see if your blood is any redder than mine!". He then ran head first towards the Grimm, which followed exactly as he did, clashing in the center. "It's time to die!" The Grimm said. Matt responded "You took the word right out of my mouth!".


	54. Chapter 54 (M)

**Chapter 54 (Matt) - Souls that Surpass Savages**

The Nachahmier Grimm punched at Matt, but Matt used his gauntlets to fire himself backwards before charging forward again, and firing his gauntlets to get extra momentum for a roundhouse kick, but the Grimm caught the leg as if it weighed nothing, and spun Matt around before throwing him into a tree.

Matt began to feel his chest hurting from his recent wound, slowing him down, but he refused to give up against his Grimm clone. Matt stood back up, and started to fire out explosive dust crystals to keep some distance between them both while he recovered. The Grimm rolled out of the way, and got closer to Matt, engaging him in close combat. They traded blows over and over, until Matt slammed his fist against the Grimm, knocking it into the air.

Matt activated the blade part of his gauntlets, and began to slice towards the Grimm, but it was too fast and dodged all of Matt's attacks. The Grimm punched towards Matt, but he blocked the attacks, and swiped at the Grimms feet. As the Grimm lost balance, Matt retreated to where Ruby was, and picked up Crescent Rose, "I'm gonna need this for a few seconds." he said as he winked, and ran back into the fight. Matt called out to the Grimm "You may have been made to copy people's moves, but that doesn't mean I can't copy it either. I don't think I could've come this far using gauntlets without the help of a certain blonde. And besides, you've copied what I'm like while I'm punching. How are you supposed to copy me when I'm doing something new? ". The Grimm growled back, and prepared itself for Matt's next move.

Matt then activated Crescent Rose in war scythe mode, and charged head first using it as a spear. The Grimm grabbed onto Crescent Rose, but Matt continued to push the Grimm back, pinning it against a tree. The Nachamier then ran up the tree, and landed behind Matt, using Crescent Rose to pin him by his neck.

Matt began breathing heavy, showing how exhausted he was. The Grimm growled "You can't win! I'm practically the embodiment of anger. A God of Rage, is what I am! Got any last words? I suggest you say them now!". Matt snapped back "A few. Qrow; thank you for watching over us all, and for saving us countless times. Ruby; what can I say? You've been there for me since I can remember. Don't let anything corrupt your honest soul. And Lyra; Your life can always turn to gold, and I'm glad, even if it is just a small one, to have an impact on you. Please, keep on howling till your last breath.".

"Is that it?" The Grimm asked, "You're seriously going to give up and use the last of your energy to say goodbye? Pathetic!". Matt began to chuckle, "You think I've given up fighting? You really don't know anything more than copying! Oh, and for you to even think that you're a ' _God'_ is funny, considering I'm the original, but I'll happily give myself the title ' _God Slayer'_!". Matt then used all of his power and pushed Crescent Rose forward, cracking the ground beneath him, "Lyra, now! Wolf Pack!" Matt ordered, and Lyra ran towards both Matt and his Grimm clone, and knocked the Grimm off it's feet. "Same as before!" Matt yelled again, and Lyra began to use the same technique the pair used to take down the White Fang to launch Matt into the air.

Once he got high enough in the air, Matt looked down and saw the Nachamier pummeling it's fists into Lyra, showing no mercy to the wolf faunus. Matt began to feel himself getting dizzy; spectating a fake version of himself beating a faunus so bad she couldn't even stand.

While Ruby was watching the sight of Lyra getting hit like a punching bag, a bright, purple light caused her to cover her eyes. Once the light died down a small amount, she looked up and saw Matt glaring at the ground, but she could see in his eyes, nothing but pure hatred. "Is this what you wanted!?", Matt yelled down towards his Grimm clone, "For me to get pissed off enough to be a challenge? Well trust me, you've just given yourself the problem of dealing with my insane side!". Matt moved his body facing towards the Grimm, and began to fire his gauntlets behind him, sending him faster and faster towards the ground. Matt began to scream, and a purple light began to appear from his mouth again. Just before he hit the ground, Matt released a psychotic laugh, and yelled out "BURN ALL THE BABIIIIIEEEEEESSS!" as he slammed his fist directly into the Grimm, creating a huge dust cloud.

Grunting could be heard from the center of the dust cloud, and as the dust swept away, Ruby and Qrow both saw Matt hitting the dead clone of himself, and even after the Grimm fully evaporated, he continued to swing into the air where he could see the smoke remains of the evil creature. Matt's hair slowly began to turn back to normal, and looked back over to Ruby, "You know, I really am such a handful!" he joked, until he saw in the corner of his eye, Lyra, still on the ground. Matt rushed over, and began to feel for a pulse, but couldn't find one. He began to do CPR, desperately, with tears flowing off his face, trying to save Lyra. "Stay with me! You are not leaving like this. You aren't falling by my hand!".

Ruby watched from afar, in horror of thinking that the wolf faunus' life could have ended. She slowly made her way towards Matt to comfort him, but was left frozen in her place as she saw Matt put his lips towards Lyra's, and breathed air into her. When nothing happened, Matt slammed his hand down on the ground, "Damn it!" he yelled out as he tried again. This time, as Matt did the same, Lyra opened her eyes, and slowly lifted one arm, showing she was okay. Matt saw the signal, and sighed heavily in relief as he leant back and lied on the ground. Matt heard footsteps, and looked up to see Ruby standing above him, "What the hell was that thing!?" she asked, but Lyra replied "The same thing that attacked Matt. It...copied him, his fighting style, even some of his personality. Let's just be lucky that the original can use his semblance.".

As Matt slowly got back up, he began to think to himself ' _Where the hell is Jaune, Nora, and Ren? They should have gotten help by now!',_ and on queue, he saw Nora blast out of a tree, with Ren and Jaune running towards them on the ground. "Where's that backup!?" Matt yelled towards Jaune, but he replied back "We are the backup!", "You're late!". Jaune looked around, and saw the wolf faunus heavily hurt, a huge crater in the ground, and Ruby and Qrow slowly making their way towards the group. "What happened?" Nora asked. "Well ya see," Matt began, "I kind of had to kill myself. Well not myself, but a version of me, that was Grimm, but looked, and fought, exactly like me, but if I'm being honest, I was more of a badass!". Lyra began to stand using Matt as support, "Don't forget the part where you kissed me.". "What?" Nora asked. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. That isn't exactly what happened." Matt began, "She stopped breathing, and I gave her CPR. I didn't actually DO anything.". "You know, some people say that a kiss is the breath of life-" Lyra tried to say, until Matt picked her up. "Quiet you!" Matt ordered, as he began to walk his way back to Mistral.

"Matt. Matt. Matt!" Ruby began to yell after her teammate as she limped after him, while Matt walked his way back with Lyra in his arms. "MATT!" Ruby yelled once more, before using her semblance to rush forward in front of him, blocking his path. "Move out of the way, Ruby." Matt ordered, "We need to get her back.". Ruby refused to move "Not until you stop ignoring me! I know I kind of put my scythe through your chest, but I never meant to do it, and you know that! I just tried to help, but instead it turned out I was dead weight. Just please...talk to me. Even if you want to yell at me, I still need to know you can talk to me!".

Matt gave out a sigh, and looked Ruby in the eye, "Ruby-", "No." Ruby interrupted, "Use the nickname…". Matt gave out another sigh, "Lil Rose, I have five words for you. That...was a good shot!". Ruby gave a confused look, "What?" she asked, "I nearly killed you, put you through hell, and then needed you to protect me while you was already hurt, and you say that me putting Crescent Rose through you was a "good shot"? What the hell is wrong with you?".

Matt gave a loud laugh, but kept Lyra in his grips, assuring her that they'll keep on moving soon. "Ruby," Matt began, "I know you didn't try to kill me, and I know that you're upset about hurting me. But it was an accident. What you did was something any other hunter or huntress would do. You protected someone, and that someone tried to kill me a few night prior. I don't want you to be upset about what happened. I'd rather you see the lightness of it. Find the light in the dark, Ruby. What happened was horrible, but we can never move on if we sit around and cry about it. I'd rather we laugh about it, associate what happened with good things, like how well you've improved. Now come on, I'm not used to lifting this weight.". Lyra glared Matt in the eyes, "Did you just call me fat?" she asked. Matt gave a nervous laugh, "No...I was saying that I...how should I put it...I just fought for your life and Ruby's, so I'm a little tired.". "Aren't you always tired?" Jaune yelled out from behind them, and Matt yelled back "Yes, but I'm still useful, that's all that matters.". Qrow began to walk in front of the group, while simultaneously saying "Now if you're all done with the apologizing, we need to get back." to which everyone followed.

A day passed, Matt, Lyra, Ruby, Jaune, Nora, Ren, and Qrow all found their way back to Mistral, as well as getting Lyra checked up at the infirmary just to check she was fine. As the group made their way towards some airships in the night, Lyra was getting ready to board. "You sure you want to go?" Matt asked, "It would be nice having you around.". Lyra gave a warm smile back, "I'd love to stay with you all, but I need to get my head cleared. Going to Menagerie should help, being around my own kind. I'll be heading towards a town called Kuo Kuana. I went there as a kid with my family, so I know the place a small amount. The last time I went, two faunus were worried about their daughter for joining the White Fang, and I can see why… I spoke to them a little before I left, so they might remember me. I'll probably have to go halfway and then find a boat or something to go the rest. Wish me luck!".

Lyra began to board, while the rest of the group stood by, waving to Lyra as it slowly began to pull away. "I'll see you soon. I'll find you, no matter what!" Matt yelled after her, which Lyra yelled back "I'm sure you will! Have fun without me!". "That's tough to do!" Matt yelled as he turned around, and saw the rest of the team staring at him. "What?" Matt asked. "Nothing…" They all replied. As they walked away from the airships, Ruby pinched Matt on his arm, "Oww," Matt yelled, "Why?". Ruby gave a glare and asked "How did you know how to use Crescent Rose so easily?". "Well," Matt responded, "after spending enough time with Velvet, she told me about her semblance, and how she can copy people. She helped me pick up a few things, which I decided to test out in a desperate situation.". Ruby gave a gasp, "Matt… I… didn't mean to bring up Velvet…". "It's fine, Ruby." Matt responded, "I think I'm over her now. Come on, let's head back. We need to get ready for meeting the headmaster of Haven Academy.". And so, Matt, Ruby, Nora, Ren, and Jaune all made their way back to their rooms, while Qrow went towards the closest bar.


	55. Chapter 55 (J)

**Chapter 55 (Jason) - Questions and Decisions**

As Jason opened his eyes slowly, he felt the heat from the sun touching his skin while lying on a bed. As Jason sat up, he had felt pain coming from his head and remembered how he was saved by his old teachers. Jason continued to groan at the pain, and shook his head to get rid of the blur in his vision. As he looked towards his left, he saw a bright yellow haired girl, sitting on a wooden chair, with her head lying her onto the same bed as Jason. "Yang!" he exclaimed. "Wuh…", as Yang lifted her head from the bed, she stared at Jason for a minute, then wiped her eyes and stared at him again until she came into realisation that Jason had woken up. "Jason!" yelled Yang as she lunged herself towards the helpless teenager. As Yang released her hug from Jason she questioned him, "How'd you get here?" Yang asked. "That's...a long story. What happened was….", as Yang sat quietly, Jason told Yang from the beginning how he met up with Mia, but was separated because of Weiss' father's plans for her, and now wishes to meet up with Weiss and Mia, but he never mentioned his future self to Yang.

After Jason shared his story with Yang, he had then questioned her on why was she here, "I live here." Yang replied. "You what!?" yelled Jason, acting surprised. Jason questioned Yang further, "So...is Ruby and the gang around here too?", "They…went to Mistral." Yang responded before giving a sigh. "Oh…", Jason noticed the lack of Yang's arm and began to comfort her, "How've you been?" questioned Jason, "What do you mean?" responded Yang. Jason didn't answer but looked at Yang's stumped arm. "Oh, this? This is nothing." Yang continued, "In fact, I've got something to show to you. Follow me.". As Jason left the bed, he followed Yang into the living room and saw a robotic arm, "Don't tell me…", "Yep. This is my new arm." replied Yang while popping the robotic arm onto her shoulders. When Yang had inspected her new arm, "Ironwood gave me this." she told Jason. "That looks...badass." he responded.

A man came through the front door that Jason didn't recognise. The man had blonde hair with blue eyes and wore brown cargo shorts with dark brown belt, black shoes, red bandana on his left arm and a brown leather vest over his shirt while he had one metal shoulder pad on his right shoulder. "Ahh, so you must be Jason. My name is Taiyang." he said, "Yang told me a lot of things about you.", "What kind of things?" wondered Jason. "Well, for starters, she told me that you're quick on your feet, though I don't think that speed alone can help you all the time.", he continued to lecture Jason, "I've seen your fight in the Vytal Festival, and although you did good on your own, there is still room for improvements. When you're fully healed, I can teach you a thing or two.". "So… Where's Professor Port and the rest of the teachers?" questioned Jason, "They're back at Vale, trying to take it back. Now I have question for you. What was you doing back at Beacon?" said Taiyang. "It was my home so I wanted to see what was left of it." Jason responded. "Do remember that it is a scary world out there. Kids like you shouldn't be venturing out in the wilderness." Taiyang added. Jason glared down at the ground and said "I've been entrusted with a child's life. I will do anything necessary to protect her…even if it means going through Hell.". "Then we got a big day ahead of us. Get some rest. I'll start training you first thing in the morning.", as Taiyang had finished his talk with Jason, he went upstairs. "Sorry about that." said Yang. "Sorry about what?" replied Jason, "My dad can be... you know... weird at times.", "It's fine. And besides, a fight against your dad could be a great opportunity for me." responded Jason.

The next day arrived, and Jason was outside with Yang and Taiyang. While Yang was sitting on the floor with Zwei, Jason and Taiyang were beginning their training. "Now, try attacking me without your semblance." yelled Taiyang, as Jason rushed towards Taiyang with his weapons, but Jason was instantly disarmed and thrown towards the ground. "You see how slow you are without your semblance. I know how your semblance works. What if your aura was gone and you couldn't run fast because of it?", "I don't know..." replied Jason, "Use your head." ordered Taiyang. Taiyang went back into position, "This time, fight me without your weapons, hand to hand combat. You're gonna need to learn how to fight with your fist instead of relying on your swords. Now, show me what you can do.". As Jason made a direct charge towards Taiyang, he jumped into the air and made a jump kick towards Taiyang. Unfazed, Taiyang waited for Jason and swiftly evaded Jason's kick, but before Jason could land, Taiyang grabbed his leg and threw him towards the tree. "You need to do better than that if you want to survive without your weapon!" shouted Taiyang. As Jason stood up and went back into position, he charged towards Taiyang again but with a different method. Instead of doing a jump kick, Jason ran in with a quick left jab but was soon blocked by one hand from Taiyang while Taiyang had locked his hand, "Cmon, if tha-". Before Taiyang could finish his sentence, Jason forced his right knee and aimed it at Taiyang stomach but it had yet again been blocked by Taiyang's right knee. "Hey, now you're getting the hang of it.", Taiyang praised Jason for his efforts, "I'm not done just yet." said Jason. When Jason's left hand was still gripped by Taiyang, Jason lowered his knee and pulled Taiyang towards him by using his left hand. Within range, Jason engaged Taiyang again with a right elbow. However, Taiyang blocked the elbow with his right hand while giving a smirk.

After hours of training in the morning went by, Jason was lying on the floor, gasping for air, and Taiyang went back into his house. As Yang made her way towards Jason, she dropped a towel over his face while sitting down next to him. Offering him a bottle of water, Jason instinctively grabbed the bottle off of Yang's hand and drank all of the water in a matter of seconds. "Can I ask you a question?" said Yang, "What's up?", "Where do you plan on going?". Jason answered Yang, "My plan is to go to Mistral and find Mia. I want to make sure that she is safe, so I'm thinking of leaving today.". "But you said she's with Weiss, she should be safe with her. Don't you believe in Weiss?", "Trust me. I do. But I've been told that a storm is brewing in the future. I just want to make sure that she is safe.", "Then I've made up my mind." said Yang. "I'll tag along with you. My sister is at Mistral, and me being the older sister, I have to make sure that she's safe." she added. "So I guess that means we're partners." he claimed. When Yang stood up, she offered her hand towards Jason, "Partners.". As Jason accepted Yang's hand, she had then threw Jason a few metres away from her, "Watching you fight my dad got me fired up.", "Wait! What?" Jason moaned, Yang had then wrestled Jason until it had been time for dinner.

Before Yang and Jason set to leave in the afternoon, Yang wrote a letter for her dad to let her know that she will be gone. When she had finished writing the letter, she left the letter in her room while Jason had waited outside her room. After Yang had exited her room, she took on a new appearance, she wore a tan jacket with orange lining and gold edging, unzipped halfway which exposes an orange top. The coat that she was wearing was dark brown with short sleeves as well as a thick collar that circles her neck. Also wearing black pants, she had a brown belt that has two pieces of brown material with a gold outline attached to it. "You ready?" Jason asked. "Give me a minute, I want to do something before we set off.".

As the duo made their way outside, Yang brought a yellow spray can with her, alongside her was her weapon, Ember Celica, and the robotic arm. After spraying her weapon and robotic arm, the two went inside the garage where a white sheet was covering something. With Jason being unsure what was under the white sheet, Yang removed it and revealed her motorbike. "I don't remember saying that you were ready." stated Taiyang as he stood at the entrance of the garage. "Oh yeah? You gonna try stop me?" said Yang. Giving a slight chuckle before replying to Yang, "No. I think I'm still too sore after our last fight. I just wanted a better goodbye than a letter." he added. "And, I also have a question for you. Where are you going?" he asked. "I'm going to Mistral of course, with Jason." replied Yang. "So you are not going after your mother? I know Qrow had told you where your mother's been these days. I know how much you wanna see her. I stopped you in the past, but I won't anymore.", "It's like I said, I'm going to Mistral with Jason.", "If that is what you want, I won't stop you." responded Taiyang.

As Yang took her motorbike outside, Jason followed her, but after Yang had exited first, Taiyang grabbed Jason by the shoulder and asked Jason a favour. "Will you protect my daughter? Please. She can be…stubborn and hot headed. But when she's in danger, I want you to be the one that protects her.", "She's a very close friend to me. I'll make sure that I'll protect her with my life." replied Jason. "I know you got a lot of things on your plate so I just want to say thank you." responded Taiyang. "It's no problem." Jason replied. As Jason faced towards the garage entrance, he saw Yang giving a smile towards him. When Jason had approached her, "I heard what you and my dad was talking about. And if you think that I can't take care of myself, you're wrong." Yang said. "I know, but from my experience, there have been a lot of Grimm stronger than me out there.", "Then maybe I should be the one protecting you." mocked Yang. "Well aren't you the funny one. I can handle myself." said Jason. When Yang and Jason got on the motorbike, Jason was unsure on what to hold onto. "Just hold onto my waist." said Yang. "I never rode a bike before, this is kinda new to me..." Jason claimed.

When Jason held onto Yang's waist, the two drove off, leaving Taiyang waving at them. "So do you know where we headed?" questioned Jason. "Yeah. We should make it to the docks and get a ship to Mistral. It hopefully won't take too long." she added. "So...are you with Weiss then?" Yang said, making conversation. "What? No." he objected, "We're just friends, that's all." Jason added. "Sure…" she jested. "I'm telling the truth. Me and Weiss are not like that.".

As Yang continued to tease Jason, they managed to reach the docks without any Grimm following them. As Yang boarded her motorbike, Bumblebee, onto the ship and placed it at the side of the ship, Jason followed. Becoming tired, he was sitting on the side of the ship with the motorbike and instantly fell asleep. Yang then sat next to Jason and placed her head onto his shoulder.

After the journey to Mistral had came to an end, Jason woke up first and felt a slight weight on his shoulders. Looking to his left, he saw Yang sleeping peacefully, "Yang..." he whispered. "We're here.", Jason had continued to whisper to Yang, "Five more minutes." she said. Yang began to wake up and looked at Jason, within seconds, she moved back away from him, "Sorry." she blurted out. "Sorry for what?" he questioned. "Nothing. Looks like we made it to Mistral. We should get going now.". As Yang had brought Bumblebee out of the ship, the two got on and made their way away from the docks and into the forest. Upon entering the forest, Jason questioned Yang, "Do you know where we're headed?", "Haven right?" she answered. "But do you know how to get there?", "Nope. I'm just following the signs." she responded. But as time passed, Yang put the brakes on her motorbike to find two paths and a sign in between the paths. The left path said ' _Kuboyuri'_ but was crossed out and said ' _Bandits'_ while the right path had said ' _Mistral'_. "Well that's definitely Ruby for ya." said Jason. "She's in so much trouble when I find her." said Yang. And so, the duo had took the right path and began their own adventure to meet up with Ruby.


End file.
